On the second day of work of the 67th session of the IAEA General Conference, on September 26, the Ukrainian delegation led by Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko held several important meetings.
In particular, Herman Halushchenko together with President of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" Petro Kotin met with the head of the United Kingdom delegation – Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nuclear and Networks Andrew Bowie. During the meeting, special attention was paid to cooperation in the nuclear field and coordination at the international level in order to comply with the principles of nuclear safety.
During the event, President of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" Petro Kotin briefed the participants about the situation at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP. He noted that the Ukrainian personnel at the power plant are under intense pressure from the russian occupationists but, despite everything, keep ensuring the nuclear and radiation safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
The parties stated that there is currently no mechanism that would allow russia to be held accountable for violating the principles of ensuring nuclear and radiation safety recognized by the world community.
Furthermore, representatives of the Ukrainian delegation held a meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Raphael Grossi. Herman Halushchenko highlighted that preserving the functionality of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, in particular Zaporizhzhya NPP after its de-occupation, should become one of the key areas of cooperation between Ukraine and the IAEA in the future.
Minister of Energy stressed that russia ignores any IAEA recommendations on de-occupation and disregards the presence of Agency representatives at the power plant site. Thus, "it is crucial to develop a plan for how the international community, in particular through the efforts of the IAEA, will respond to the further actions of the terrorist state".
Energoatom’s President Petro Kotin emphasized that as long as invaders are at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, there is no appropriate technical oversight there and the degradation of all the equipment takes place.
"Ukrainian nuclear power plants and installations should operate safely under the full sovereign control of Ukraine and the legitimate operator — Energoatom", he added.
Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation also attended the meetings of the Committee of the Whole and side events.
As a reminder, the Ukrainian delegation includes President of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" Petro Kotin, Acting Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine Oleh Korikov, and First Deputy Chairman of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management Andriy Tymchuk.
Among the priority topics of the session are the activities of the IAEA in the field of nuclear and physical security as well as increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Agency's guarantees. In particular, a substantive discussion of the issues of nuclear safety and guarantees in Ukraine is planned.
For Ukraine, participation in the event is crucial in order to once again draw the attention of the international community to the state of nuclear and radiation safety in Ukraine during the war, in particular to the situation at the ZNPP.
