UN / UKRAINE IAEA GROSSI

Asked about the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi told reporters that the Security Council is “in agreement on the nature of the problem that we have, and on the support they are giving to the IAEA to do its work.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:27
• Production Date: 25 January 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY - IAEA
• Subject Topical: NUCLEAR SAFETY
• Geographic Subject: RUSSIAN FEDERATION; UKRAINE
• MAMS Id: 3167305
• Parent Id: 3167305
• Alternate Title: unifeed240125c

Description

STORY: UN / UKRAINE IAEA GROSSI
TRT:2:27
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 25 JANUARY 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, United Nations Headquarters

25 JANUARY 2024, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Grossi arriving at the podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“This last time did not last for too long, we have had longer blackouts, which were much more concerning than this one. So, now, this was shorter but it continues to occur. It is very difficult going to the other point to identify the exact reason of each one of those because some of them may be caused by events taking place hundreds of kilometers away from the Plants, which may be deliberate. I'm not saying it's just an unwitting result. The forces in place know very well which are the lines feeding the Plant. In normal times, they used to have six high-voltage lines and, more or less the exact number of 330 kilowatt lines. Now we are operating with only two and sometimes, one. So, we are walking on very thin ice.”
Med shot, Grossi speaking at the podium
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“And the concern is as you know, is high as the first day because I was just telling the members of the council that in this situation, you cannot say well there is a trend that things are stabilizing somehow, things are improving. I mean you can have a good week and then you have a blackout. You can have a good week and then a drone that aims at the Plant. So it is an ongoing situation which will only be in a better place when all of these stops.”
5. Med shot, Grossi speaking at the podium
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“This council and you're following it every day is dealing with so many crises and so many problems. The difference I would say on this one is that the membership there is in agreement on the nature of the problem that we have, and on the support they are giving to the IAEA to do its work, which is of course not sufficient to solve the problem, but it is not bad at all when we see what is happening elsewhere.”
7. Wide shot, Grossi leaving the podium

Storyline

Asked about the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi told reporters that the Security Council is “in agreement on the nature of the problem that we have, and on the support they are giving to the IAEA to do its work.”

The Director General spoke to reporters today (25 Jan) after a closed meeting in which he updated the Member States on the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. He will be returning to the Plant within the next ten days, then he will go to Russia.

Asked about the 8th time that the Plant had its power outage, Grossi said, “This last time did not last for too long, we have had longer blackouts, which were much more concerning than this one. So, now, this was shorter but it continues to occur.”

He added that it is very difficult to “identify the exact reason of each one of those because some of them may be caused by events taking place hundreds of kilometers away from the Plants, which may be deliberate. I'm not saying it's just an unwitting result.”

“The forces in place know very well which are the lines feeding the Plant. In normal times, they used to have six high-voltage lines and, more or less the exact number of 330 kilowatt lines. Now we are operating with only two and sometimes, one. We are walking on very thin ice,” he reiterated.

Grossi also said that the concern is high as the first day because “in this situation, you cannot say well there is a trend that things are stabilizing somehow, things are improving. I mean you can have a good week and then you have a blackout. You can have a good week and then a drone that aims at the Plant. So it is an ongoing situation which will only be in a better place when all of these stops.”

IAEA issued a statement on 19 January that the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) lost its immediate back-up power supply to the reactor units for several hours.