Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Antony Blinken, and Antonio Guterres are among those anticipated to attend the tenth annual review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The meeting takes place as the United Nations refuses to assist the IAEA in gaining access to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, which has been occupied by Russia since the beginning of the war and is in a “alarming” state according to the watchdog agency.
“It is urgent,” Grossi said in the latest IAEA report. “I’m continuing my determined efforts to agree and lead a safety, security and safeguards mission to the site as soon as possible.”
Early in March, when Russian soldiers took control of the Zaporizhzhya facility and Ukraine told the IAEA that Ukrainian personnel was running the plant under Russian command, alarm bells rang metaphorically in the Vienna offices of the IAEA, an independent organization within the U.N. system.
When the takeover occurred, one of the seven pillars of nuclear safety and security—that the operational personnel “must be able to execute their safety and security tasks and have the capacity to make judgments free of undue pressure”—was breached, and Grossi “expressed significant worry” about this.
In order to prevent information about its operation from being communicated, Russian soldiers reportedly turned off certain cell networks and the internet at the site, according to Ukraine.
The first nuclear plant the Russians seized was the Chernobyl plant, which is not operational but still poses a risk because it still has waste and nuclear materials, according to Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, who said on “Face the Nation” in March that the international community should intervene and help Ukraine retake control of the nuclear sites from Russia. The IAEA has since been able to send a team into the Chernobyl facility in June, but as of July 22, it is “still suffering a partial loss of safeguards data transfer,” according to Grossi.
Since March, Russian forces have continued to occupy the Zaporizhzhya facility, which is being run by Ukrainian employees but is being observed by Russian nuclear specialists. Their intention, according to Marat Khusnullin, deputy prime minister of Russia, is to sell Ukraine the energy produced by the plant or, in the event that Ukraine refuses to pay, to send electricity to Russia.
Russia intends to include the Zaporizhzhya area through a vote; this would nationalize the plant in Russia’s eyes and make monitoring discussions more difficult.
On July 22, Grossi said he received reports about the plant that indicated “an increasingly alarming situation” there, and he called for “maximum restraint to avoid any accident that could threaten public health in Ukraine and elsewhere.”
“These reports are very disturbing,” Grossi said.
Grossi urged Guterres to assist the IAEA in gaining access to Zaporizhzhya a few weeks ago, according to a U.S. government source familiar with the site and a U.N. source knowledgeable with the organization’s operations.
According to U.S. and U.N. officials, the U.N. has been ignoring the IAEA’s requests for assistance and delaying action because of concerns over negotiations to remove crucial food from Ukraine.
Over 20 U.N. organizations continue to work in Ukraine and have developed safety guidelines with Ukraine and Russia, though the agency often arranges trips to plants on its own. Other IAEA missions to Ukrainian nuclear power facilities, including Chernobyl, have been made possible with assistance from the U.N.
According to a senior UN official, the monitoring agency does not frequently request assistance from the U.N., but when it does, as in the case of the IAEA mission to Chernobyl, the U.N. is able to assist with logistics. The U.N. representative refused to immediately respond to the inquiry concerning Zaporizhzhya, only saying, “We have always helped the IAEA in whatever manner we can. Questions were not answered by Grossi’s office.
Opportunity to map out a plan
“Reducing risks of nuclear war and expanding peaceful nuclear sharing” is the aim of the conference opening at U.N. headquarters on Monday, Ambassador Adam M. Scheinman, U.S. Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, told a briefing with reporters.
“Russia’s provocative nuclear rhetoric, I believe, is out of step with the treaty’s aims toward nuclear arms control and eventual nuclear disarmament,” he said.
The majority of the Russian delegation has been granted visas to attend the meeting, and there will also be a representation from Ukraine. According to analysts, now would be a good moment to develop a safety strategy.
The International Crisis Group think tank’s Richard Gowan told CBS News that Ukraine’s nuclear power facilities are a priority and that “the variety of awful outcomes is worrisome.”
“Nuclear plants getting hit by missiles or artillery, nuclear material going missing, key workers unable to service the plants, it’s a long list,” Gowan said. “The fact that you have nuclear power stations right in the middle of a large-scale conventional war of attrition is unprecedented.”
To kick off the month-long summit, which will also address North Korea’s nuclear aspirations and the broken Iran nuclear agreement, Grossi will spend two days at the U.N. headquarters on Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend the meeting on Monday, and Guterres will be at the U.N. for three days. Analysts think this is the perfect opportunity for the parties to develop a safety strategy.
“Nobody anticipates that the upcoming diplomatic weeks will be simple. We must hope that the diplomatic struggle will not be overshadowed by a nuclear mishap in Ukraine “added Gowan.