U.N. atomic watchdog to secure all of Ukraine's nuclear plants

The head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukraine's prime minister have agreed to a plan for continuous monitoring of Ukraine's four nuclear power plants and the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

IAEA's Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the agreement for the U.N. atomic watchdog agency to establish a continuous presence of nuclear safety and security experts at all of the country’s nuclear power plants, which have 16 nuclear reactors between them.

"IAEA will send permanent technical missions to all nuclear power plants in Ukraine," said Shmyhal, adding there also were discussions about the demilitarization of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. "It is necessary to stop Russia's illegal actions at the Ukrainian power plant."

Grossi said the agreement that emerged from a two-hour meeting in Paris that ended early on Tuesday morning with calls for stepped-up efforts to help prevent a nuclear accident during the current armed conflict.

Grossi, Shmyhal and Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko made progress toward creating a nuclear safety and security protection zone around  Zaporizhzhya, IAEA said. Shelling around the plant under Russia's military occupation has caused damage to the facilities and increased the risk of a radiation catastrophe that could endanger Ukraine and the region.

“While we are not yet there and more work is required, I’m increasingly optimistic that such a zone – which is of paramount importance – will be agreed and implemented in the near future,” Grossi said after the talks.

“I will continue my high-level consultations in the coming days – both with Ukraine and Russia – with the clear aim to get this done as soon as possible," he said. "We can’t afford to lose more time.”

A threat to Ukraine and beyond

Before Russia's full-scale invasion in February, Ukraine produced about 55% of its electricity from nuclear power – almost half of it from Zaporizhzhya – and almost 24% from coal-burning plants. Most of the rest came from hydropower and gas.

IAEA deployed a permanent expert mission to Zaporizhzhia more than three months ago. At Ukraine's request, it also dispatched weeklong nuclear safety and security missions over the past month to the three other operational nuclear power plants in Ukraine – Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine – and to Chernobyl.

The Ukrainian energy minister's office said Russia has "strengthened its military presence" around Haluschenko, where it has Grad multiple rocket launchers. "New shelling from the territory of the nuclear facility has also been recorded," it said, calling that a threat to Ukraine and all of Europe.

Haluschenko provided Gross with a list of Zaporizhzhia employees that have been kidnapped and beaten for refusing to sign contracts with the Russians.