On the third day of work of the 67th session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on September 27, the Ukrainian delegation led by the Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko held several important meetings.
🔷 Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko met with Deputy Director-General for Energy at the European Commission Massimo Garribba. President of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" Petro Kotin attended the event as well.
The parties paid special attention to the situation at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP and the ways in which the European Commission can facilitate the return of the plant to the control of its legitimate operator – Energoatom.
The representatives of the Ukrainian delegation noted that our country had shown other Eastern European states an example of overcoming dependence on russian nuclear fuel for VVER-1000 and VVER-440 reactors.
Energoatom’s President Petro Kotin reminded the meeting participants that the first batch of nuclear fuel manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB company featuring professionals of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" was recently loaded into Rivne NPP VVER-440 reactor.
🔷 The Ukrainian delegation also held a meeting with Canadian representatives – Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Troy Lulashnyk and President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Rumina Velshi.
Rumina Velshi assured that Canada would help Ukraine restart Zaporizhzhia NPP after its deoccupation.
Herman Halushchenko informed attendees about the current situation at the ZNPP and emphasized the threats that the russians could create during the de-occupation of the power plant. He noted that the experience of the spring of 2022, when the russian military was stationed at the Chornobyl NPP, and then had to leave it, testifies to the complete leveling of the bases of nuclear and radiation safety by the invaders.
Energoatom’s President Petro Kotin noted that Ukrainian NPPs are completing repair work in order to operate all units located on the Ukraine-controlled territory in the autumn-winter period.
During the meeting, the importance of implementing the Peace Formula proposed by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in cooperation with the IAEA was also highlighted.
🔷 Within the framework of the 67th session of the IAEA General Conference, a meeting "Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards in Ukraine: Nuclear and Radiological Risks and Threats, Regulatory Challenges and Lessons Learned and the Implementation of the Safeguard Agreement between Ukraine and the IAEA" organized by Ukraine was also held. Herman Halushchenko and Energoatom’s President Petro Kotin told the representatives of the Agency about the challenges that Ukraine has faced since the beginning of the full-fledged invasion of russia.
🔷 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 our country, 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.
