IAEA head notes progress in providing access to Zaporozhye NPP facilities

TOKYO. July 7 (Interfax) - The access of experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the facilities of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has broadened in recent days, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Friday.

"We are making progress. From Tuesday to today, we have been able to get more access" to the Zaporozhye NPP, Grossi said at a press conference in Tokyo.

The experts have yet to receive access to the rooftops, so they have filed respective requests with the local authorities, Grossi said. "I'm pretty confident we will get this authorization," he said.

The IAEA checked the cooling ponds and other premises but "we have not seen any indication of explosive or mines," he said.

Earlier this week, Grossi said that the IAEA requested access to some sites at the Zaporozhye NPP. "That is necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives at the site," the IAEA quoted Grossi as saying.

"In particular, access to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4 is essential, as well as access to parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant," he said.

On July 5, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the situation at the ZNPP is rather tense, and that the threat of sabotage by the Ukrainian authorities with catastrophic consequences is high.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, denied the statement of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about explosives on rooftops of the ZNPP's power units.

Earlier, Karchaa said that he has information on Ukraine's intention to attack the ZNPP in Energodar in the early hours of July 5. Together with this, it is also planned to drop from an aircraft a munition carrying radioactive waste taken from the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant on July 3. Measures are being taken at the ZNPP to protect the facility over the available information, he said.