IAEA is another tool of Putin

A number of leading European countries are not only sluggishly reacting to the ongoing genocide of Ukrainians by the Russian army, here they almost completely ignore the nuclear threat in connection with the capture of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest on the continent, by the invaders. And this is happening against the backdrop of the fact that Europe in 1986 survived the Chernobyl accident. Perhaps such relaxation of European politicians is due to the fact that there is an international organization that must make sure that the atom does not get out of control – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). However, in the issue of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, this organization demonstrates flirting with the Russian invader.

The Segodnya website looked into why the IAEA turned out to be such a dysfunctional body that a serious nuclear threat again loomed over most of the Eastern Hemisphere.

What is the IAEA

The International Organization for the Development of Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (abbreviated as IAEA) was founded in 1957 with headquarters in Vienna. It is a separate control structure under the United Nations (UN).

According to the Charter, the main objectives of the IAEA are:

• control over the peaceful use of atomic energy,
• control that atomic energy is not used for military purposes.

One of the Agency’s important functions is to ensure that direct and dual use nuclear materials and equipment are not used for military purposes.

The situation with the Zaporozhye NPP

It would seem that the IAEA Charter itself requires that this organization be the first to take control of what is happening at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant as soon as Putin’s soldiers in tanks drove there. This happened at the beginning of March. However, the IAEA still has not responded adequately to the seizure of a dangerous object by armed people.

In the Vienna office of the Agency, they even sluggishly reacted to the fact that on the night of March 4, the Russian invaders fired at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. As a result, a fire started.

There was zero reaction to the fact that representatives of a foreign country, Rosatom, took over the management of the Zaporizhzhya NPP. Although representatives of the Ukrainian “Energoatom” drew the attention of the IAEA that the Russian concern in this way violates all established international rules and requirements for nuclear and radiation safety.

Also ignored was the incident on March 14, when the Russian military blew up part of the ammunition at the site of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, near the ruins of a training center on the territory of the station that they had previously fired upon.

Scandal

Today it turned out that IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi decided to come to the occupied station. And he lied about who invited him there.

According to Grossi, last week the Ukrainian government allegedly invited him to lead an expert mission to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. And he agreed.

“We have the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, disconnected from the system for transmitting data on the state of nuclear materials, so we are going to Zaporozhye. At the invitation of Ukraine,” Grossi wrote on Twitter.

By the way, the shutdown happened on March 10!

However, Energoatom has a different truth. “IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi is lying again… We consider this message from the head of the IAEA as another attempt to get to the Zaporizhzhya NPP by any means in order to legitimize the presence of the occupiers there and, in fact, approve all their actions,” the Ukrainian department said in a statement.

What’s happening

Rafael Grossi is an Argentinean. However, his first deputy, the head of the nuclear safety department, is Russian Mikhail Chudakov. In 2019, he replaced another person from Rosatom at this post. Such continuity gave them the opportunity to introduce people with Russian passports into the IAEA structures.

Russia is also one of the main donors to the IAEA. According to open sources, in 2021-2023 Moscow makes voluntary contributions to the IAEA Technical Cooperation Fund up to 2.072 million euros annually. Plus, Russia actively participates in the IAEA Programs, to which it also makes generous contributions, sometimes 0.5 million euros each.

Before the war in Ukraine, this was necessary for Russia in order to facilitate obtaining the necessary permits for the construction of nuclear power plants in different countries of the world. For example, now Rosatom is building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. It took the Russians 8 years to negotiate, design and license this project.

Rosatom is building another station for two power units in Bangladesh. The launch of the Rooppur NPP was planned for 2023. It is also completing construction of additional power units at the Indian nuclear power plant Kudankulam.

In general, Russia is building nuclear power plants all over the world, actively resorting to the Agency’s expertise necessary for their launch.

Outcome

Now, according to experts, Moscow’s broad lobby in the IAEA will slow down any decision in favor of Ukraine. The same lobby will not allow Russia to be quickly expelled from this organization because its military seized the Chernobyl and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants.

“It is impossible to remove Russia or any other country from the IAEA. Such an option is not provided for in the agency’s charter,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to the organization, appeals.

“Now we are working with partners to eliminate Russia from the IAEA, or at least to reduce its role there and remove all Russians from the key positions they occupy in the Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” the adviser told reporters earlier. Minister of Energy of Ukraine Olena Zerkal.

The Segodnya website reported that at the end of April, the IAEA admitted that Russian missile flights over a nuclear power plant in Ukraine could result in a nuclear catastrophe. Also, the head of the IAEA expressed concern about the situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the withdrawal of the invaders. On March 10, the IAEA lost contact with the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which was captured by the invaders.