The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) has said it remains “deeply concerned” about the situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), noting that plant operators were “facing unprecedented challenges in carrying out day-to-day operations and maintaining nuclear safety standards”.

WANO’s Governing Board issued a resolution “on behalf of all members who operate nuclear power stations worldwide” stating that “every effort must be taken to ensure that there be no interference in the operators’ ability to safely perform their work”. It added: “It is also vital to maintain WANO unity in supporting the Zaporizhzhia power plant and ensure that no member nuclear power station becomes isolated either from the industry or from the nuclear safety assistance needed.”

The resolution states that WANO will continue to support the operators at Zaporizhzhia in any way practical and assist the station staff in verifying that nuclear safety fundamentals remain in place under changing conditions. WANO will also continue to support International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety efforts through close collaboration.

The WANO Board called on all parties, including WANO staff, to become more directly engaged in stabilising the situation at Zaporizhzhia station as soon as possible.

WANO CEO Ingemar Engkvist appealed to all parties to support the WANO resolution. “Under normal conditions, WANO would immediately schedule a Peer Review mission at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. However, this mission cannot be carried out until the safety of WANO personnel can be assured.”

Engkvist said WANO has consistently supported the efforts of IAEA at Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia to visit the sites and provide direct assistance to the operating staff. In this regard, I consider the IAEA initiative to create a nuclear safety and protection zone at Zaporizhzhia station to facilitate both IAEA’s efforts and those of the nuclear operator’s community to support the station personnel more directly. Currently, WANO London Office is evaluating a set of support measures that are feasible in the current conditions to meet the Governing Board resolution.”

Ria Novosti reported on 25 October that Russia had sent the IAEA its comments on the proposal of Director General Rafael Grossi to create a "protective zone" around ZNPP. Russian Permanent Representative to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, said the basis of the proposal “in a nutshell is that you cannot shoot from the territory of the station and you cannot shoot at this station. It's a perfectly reasonable idea that we generally support. But, as always, the question is in the details." Ulyanov added that Gross had " handed over his sketches to the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine” at the end of September.

"We reacted. On 11 October, the day when our president received Grossi, there were consultations before this meeting. We have conveyed our comments and suggestions on the content of a possible agreement, but the Ukrainians, as far as I know, have not done this yet, although a lot of time has passed."

He added that the main issues to be resolved are the geographical parameters of the zone. “Either the station's territory as such, which would probably be a rational decision – or whether to include some territory around the station. All this is a subject for discussion. And another important point is monitoring – who will monitor compliance with this agreement. These are only preliminary considerations, and I don't know if this idea will be developed. Grossi himself is very determined to promote this idea, but everything depends on the Ukrainian side."

At the same time, Ulyanov stressed that "arguments about the demilitarisation (of the nuclear power plant) are completely inappropriate, because no one has ever militarised it”. He emphasised that there are no Russian troops and heavy weapon theres, but "there is a Rosgvardiya that performs the necessary security functions”.

On 26 October, Grossi, who was the IAEA's International Ministerial conference, “Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century" in Washington. said he would also visit the UN headquarters to discuss further the creation of a safe zone around ZNPP. The USA has banned Russia from participating in the IAEA conference.

In another development, Grossi said on 24 October that IAEA is aware of statements made by the Russian Federation about alleged activities at two nuclear locations in Ukraine. He confirmed that both locations are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors. He added that the IAEA had received a written request from Ukraine to send teams of inspectors to carry out verification activities at the two locations.

“The IAEA inspected one of these locations one month ago and all our findings were consistent with Ukraine’s safeguards declarations,” Grossi said. “No undeclared nuclear activities or material were found there.” The IAEA is preparing to visit the locations in the coming days. The purpose of the safeguards visits is to detect any possible undeclared nuclear activities and material.

This came after Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on 23 October initiated telephone calls with the defence ministers of the UK, France, the USA, and Turkey warning that Russia had evidence Ukraine was planning of preparing a false-flag attack with the use of a ‘dirty bomb’, a device combining conventional explosives with radioactive material. Shoigu made similar phone calls to his counterparts in India and China on 26 October.

The USA and NATO countries dismissed the allegations. On 24 October, the foreign ministers of the US, UK, and France released a joint statement rejecting Russia’s warnings as “transparently false allegations.” Ukraine categorically denied any such intentions. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called the allegations “as absurd as they are dangerous”.

Nevertheless, on 25 October, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Russian mission’s head, Vassily Nebenzia, repeated the accusations and said that Moscow would consider the use of a 'dirty bomb' by Ukraine “an act of nuclear terrorism”. Nebenzia subsequently called a closed UN Security Council meeting to discuss the issue.

At a press conference after the meeting Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky said Ukraine may now be shelving the ‘dirty bomb’ programme after Russia exposed it. He noted that Ukraine would have time to do this before the upcoming IAEA inspection. “If you read the Ukrainian Telegram channels, you would see that there is a lot of fuss in the Ukrainian ruling circles now because of the campaign that we have started to launch, and there are many signs that they are trying to sort of wind down this programme, and of course they will have enough time to do it,” Polyansky said. “They can come, but I am telling you that a ‘dirty bomb’ is not a very complex device,” he explained, adding that there is no guarantee that the programme would not be resumed after the inspectors depart. He stressed that a lot of detailed evidence had been given to the UN and individual countries on the development of Ukraine’s programme and the sites where this was happening.

Materials for a ‘dirty bomb’ are widely available in Ukraine with nuclear material stored at all its NPPs as well as a used fuel storage facility in Chernobyl. In addition, relevant materials can be obtained from radioactive sources and isotopes used in medicine, industry and scientific research.

On 23 October, the RIA Novosti news agency, said the development of the bomb was being carried out by specialists of Ukraine’s Vostochny Mining and Processing Plant in the Yellow Waters of the Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as the Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research. Later Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces (RCBZ), Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, told a Defence Ministry briefing that Ukraine has the scientific base to create such a device. He mentioned the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, “whose scientists participated in the USSR nuclear programme, where various experimental facilities, including the Uragan thermonuclear installations, are still functioning, as well as the Institute for Nuclear Research at the National Academy of Sciences in Kiev, where at the present time various experimental facilities are operating.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, commenting on the matter, said that “all parties should avoid any actions that could lead to miscalculation and escalation of what’s already a devastating conflict.”

Image: Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (courtesy of Energoatom)