Russian Troops Guard Nuclear Stockpile At Zaporizhzhia Power Plant - Foreign Ministry

Russian Troops Guard Nuclear Stockpile at Zaporizhzhia Power Plant - Foreign Ministry

Russian troops took control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant at the start of Russia's operation in Ukraine to safeguard radioactive materials, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th May, 2022) Russian troops took control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant at the start of Russia's operation in Ukraine to safeguard radioactive materials, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The UN atomic watchdog IAEA estimates that 30 tonnes of plutonium and 40 tonnes of enriched uranium remain on site. IAEA chief Mariano Grossi said on Wednesday that the agency was seeking access to the plant to verify that the nuclear stockpile had not been "deviated" for other uses.

"We again stress that the decision to send Russian military personnel to guard Zaporizhzhia NPP was taken to prevent leaks of nuclear and radioactive materials," Maria Zakharova said.

The power plant continues to be serviced by a Ukrainian operator, she added.

Zakharova said the materials Grossi referred to were "nuclear reactor fuel, including fuel that has already been loaded into reactors and spent nuclear fuel that has been moved into on-site storage."

She explained that uranium was low enriched and plutonium could not be recovered from used fuel without very advanced reprocessing equipment that only a handful of countries have.