Mon Sep 09 15:13:25 UTC 2024: ## IAEA to Determine Blame for Potential Accident at Occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
**ZAPORIZHZHIA, UKRAINE** – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that its monitors stationed at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine will be able to determine responsibility for any accidents resulting in a radiological emergency.
While the IAEA has previously refrained from assigning blame for drone attacks near the facility, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated Monday that the agency will take a more proactive role in identifying the cause of damage in the event of a disaster.
“The experts there would be in a position to say very, very clearly whether an event is directly the origin of an external cause or by an internal process,” Grossi stated.
The IAEA’s ability to assign blame carries significant weight in international treaties. While a nuclear incident directly caused by armed conflict may not trigger financial compensation, the plant’s operator could be held responsible for negligence under the Vienna Convention.
Determining potential monetary damages is complicated by the plant’s current status. Despite being formally owned by Ukraine, the facility is currently being operated by Rosatom Corp., a Russian nuclear giant.
“There would be issues of ownership and legal debates,” Grossi acknowledged. “This is a Ukrainian facility, but of course, there, there’s another operator that has a different view on that. We would have a very prolonged and most probably very difficult legal debate.”
In the meantime, Grossi confirmed that all six reactors at Zaporizhzhia will remain shut down for the duration of the conflict, a measure that significantly reduces the risk of a serious nuclear accident.
First Piper 