IAEA on the guard of Ukraine's peaceful atom
The role of international organizations in global regional conflicts continues to grow. Some of them, like NATO, become full-fledged participants, dictating their own vector of dispute development, while others focus their efforts on finding peaceful solutions to the conflict. Thus, the International Atomic Energy Agency took a special role in the conflict in Ukraine, which, by the way, for the first time takes place on the territory of a country with a large nuclear potential. For more than two years, the entire world community has been following the development of the situation around the Zaporozhskaya NPP, and speculation on the topic of attacks on the plant's facilities has become one of the mainstays of Ukraine's information war against Russia.
The International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the world centre of cooperation in the nuclear field, promoting the use of safe, reliable and peaceful nuclear technologies that should not be aimed at military purposes. The IAEA was formed in 1957 as an intergovernmental organization in the UN system, later, with the emergence of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the conclusion of an agreement on guarantees with the Agency became a mandatory condition for countries to join the treaty. In the idea of creating the organization was the awareness of the duality of nuclear developments: they can be used as a mass weapon or as a useful tool of peaceful coexistence, so the IAEA proclaimed the main goal of its activity the concept of "Atom for Peace".
The Agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contri- bution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. It shall ensure, so far as it is able, that assistance provided by it or at its request or under its supervision or control is not used in such a way as to further any military purpose.
The IAEA safeguards system obliges member States of the partnership to comply with commitments to prevent the peaceful atom from being used for military purposes. In pursuance of this task, the Agency has a control function - it has the right to review and approve plans for specialized facilities and equipment, including nuclear reactors, to certify that they do not serve any military purpose; to require compliance with health and safety measures; to request progress reports; and to perform other support and scientific functions. At the same time, the IAEA's activities are of a purely technical and advisory nature, and the Agency submits annual reports on its activities to the UN General Assembly and the Security Council - insofar as they fall within its competence, since the IAEA is authorized to monitor the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions related to the nuclear sphere.
Among the major world events in which the implementation of IAEA safeguards has played an important role: the limitation of Iraq's nuclear capabilities in 1991 and Romania's in 1992, the “special inspection” of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1993, which subsequently led to the country's withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the elimination of Libya's and Iran's nuclear programs with the subsequent revelation of numerous violations at the latter country's facilities, and the disclosure of South Korea's and Egypt's nuclear research.
By April 2023, the number of IAEA member states stood at 177, with a total operating regular budget estimated at €396.8 million. At the same time, the total global nuclear power capacity by the end of 2022 reached 393.8 GW, generated by 438 nuclear reactor units operating in 32 countries.
Dangerously close to a nuclear disaster
The conflict in Ukraine was the first in history to take place in a country with a large nuclear potential, which justifiably raises the issue of nuclear and physical security in the region. Ukraine was home to 5 nuclear power plants with 15 units - Zaporozhskaya (consisting of 6 units with VVER-1000 reactors), Chernobyl, Rovno (2 units with VVER-1000 reactors and 2 units with VVER-440 reactors), Khmelnitskaya (2 operating VVER-1000 reactors), and South-Ukrainian (3 operating VVER-1000 reactors).
The immediate proximity of military action to the territory of nuclear facilities shortly after the beginning of the conflict forced the IAEA to formulate seven integral components of ensuring nuclear and physical security, which derive from the norms and guidelines on physical nuclear safety and aim to prevent a radiation crisis in the process of any armed conflict:
the need to maintain the physical integrity of the objects;
the need to ensure the uninterrupted operation of nuclear and physical safety systems and equipment;
the capacity of operational personnel to fulfill their responsibilities for ensuring safety and the freedom to make management decisions;
the need to maintain external power supply from the power grid;
ensuring uninterrupted supply chain and transportation to both sides;
radiation control and emergency preparedness and response measures;
providing reliable channels of communication with the regulatory authority and other parties.
On March 1, 2022, the Russian Federation officially informed the IAEA that it had taken control of the territory around Zaporozhskaya NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Since September of the same year, an IAEA mission has been present at the plant with periodic rotations, which was the Agency's first mission to a nuclear facility threatened by military action.
In May 2023, Rafael Grossi formulated five safety principles directly at ZNPP:
Exclude attacks of any kind from or against the plant, in particular on reactors, storage of exhaust fuel, other critical infrastructure or personnel.
Nuclear power plants should not be used as storage facilities or bases for heavy weapons (several missile launchers, artillery systems and ammunition, as well as tanks) or military personnel that can be used to attack from the factory.
Outside the facility, the power station should not be endangered. Electricity outside the site must remain available and safe at all times.
All structures, systems and components necessary for the safe and reliable operation of the nuclear power plant must be protected from attacks or sabotage.
No action should be taken that undermines these principles.
According to Grossi, the situation around ZNPP is very dangerous, as there are constant or periodic violations of at least six of the seven formulated safety components of the plant. The main difficulty lies both in the probability of attacks on the nuclear plant itself and in the frequent off-site power line outages that result in the need to use generator capacity to provide cooling for the reactor and spent fuel. In reality, the infrastructure of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is still under constant attack by the Ukrainian army, there has already been a drone strike on the reactor dome that could have led to a nuclear disaster, a radiation monitoring post has been destroyed, and the substation that ensures the safe operation of the nuclear power plant has been disrupted.
Russia's accusations of shelling the ZNPP have become a stronghold of Ukrainian information policy. In June 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution prepared by Ukraine demanding that Russia withdraw its troops from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, an initiative supported by 99 out of 192 countries. At the same time, Russia regularly provides the international community with data on the actual situation around the plant, does not obstruct the IAEA mission, and has repeatedly declared the absence of heavy weapons on the territory of the plant, which was confirmed by the IAEA report. Some countries, such as Syria, opposed the resolution, seeing “clear political overtones” in the text of the document.
Today [7 April 2024] for the first time since November 2022 and after I have outlined five basic principles to avoid a serious nuclear accident with radiological consequences, IAEA inspectors at the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant have confirmed that there have been at least three direct incidents in the design of the protective shell of the main reactor of the ZEE.
At the same time that Russian forces took control of the Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant, they also took control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ChNPP) facilities. In March 2022, in accordance with written agreements, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was returned to Ukraine, which now controls and is responsible for the nuclear and physical safety of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, the Southern Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant and the Rovno Nuclear Power Plant. Permanent IAEA teams are present at all named facilities to monitor the situation and ensure the functioning of critical facilities. Throughout the period, no cases were recorded in which operating NPPs had to reduce electricity production, nor were there any events that decisively affected the nuclear and physical safety of these facilities or other facilities related to the use, storage and transportation of nuclear or radioactive material. Nevertheless, explosions have been recorded in Khmelnitsky and Nikolayev oblasts, which indicate that threats to nuclear safety remain at all of these facilities.
For more than sixty years, the IAEA has been carrying out control activities aimed at ensuring that nuclear energy, which is not only good but also very dangerous, is used exclusively for peaceful purposes. The conflict in Ukraine has given the IAEA a historic mission, the success of which will largely determine the Agency's further authority in the international arena. The safety of the Zaporozhskaya NPP is a particularly acute issue as an important aspect of the Ukrainian crisis, the final resolution of which will affect the prospects for resolving the political conflict. So far, the Agency has not explicitly named the one responsible for the shelling of the plant's infrastructure, being guided by a limited mandate and following the UN position, which the organization demonstrated at the Security Council meeting in April 2024. However, the “dangerous proximity” to a nuclear disaster may force the IAEA to take a more independent position and speak directly about those responsible for the conditions at ZNPP facilities, pursuing the organization's historic mission of peaceful atoms.
