The AP Interview: UN nuke chief wants Ukraine plant access

The International Atomic Energy Agency chief says the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear plant which is currently under Russian occupation in Ukraine is a “red light blinking” as the IAEA tries in vain to get access for work including repairs

KYIV, Ukraine -- The International Atomic Energy Agency's director-general says the level of safety at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, currently under Russian occupation in Ukraine, is like a “red light blinking” as his organization tries in vain to get access for work including repairs.

Rafael Grossi, in an interview with The Associated Press, turned the focus to the nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia — a day after the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. That plant was also taken over by Russian forces.

Grossi said that the IAEA needs access to the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine so its inspectors can, among other things, reestablish connections with the Vienna-based headquarters of the U.N. agency. And for that, both Russia and Ukraine need to help.

The plant requires repairs, “and all of this is not happening. So the situation as I have described it, and I would repeat it today, is not sustainable as it is," Grossi said. “So this is a pending issue. This is a red light blinking.”