Nuclear security, safety and safeguards in Ukraine: UK nationwide assertion to the IAEA Board, September 2025

Chair, 

The United Kingdom reiterates our assist for the IAEA’s work to assist nuclear security, safety and safeguards in Ukraine.  

Chair, 

We observe Agency’s evaluation that the general security scenario at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant stays “precarious”.  

For over 4 months, ZNPP has been counting on a single exterior energy line, with navy exercise close to the location reportedly hindering the reconnection of the back-up – culminating within the ninth complete lack of off-site energy in the course of the battle. This disruption will increase the prospect of a nuclear accident. The Board can’t select to stay complacent – the dangers are actual and chronic.  

Persistent navy exercise across the plant, together with “frequent” explosions, the worrying discount in water ranges within the cooling pond, and the presence of Russian armed forces on the web site are extraordinarily worrying. Continued obstruction and limitations in entry prohibit the IAEA’s potential to independently perform its important mission. 

We are additionally involved by studies that pre-licensing inspections are going down at ZNPP. The notion of restarting operations underneath such precarious situations isn’t solely deeply troubling – it’s utterly reckless.  

Chair, 

We proceed to assist the Agency’s monitoring {of electrical} substations important to the secure operation of Ukraine’s nuclear energy crops. We observe the Agency’s findings that restore work is ongoing, and we welcome additional efforts to evaluate the dangers posed by degraded grid situations. Its resilience should stay a precedence.

Chair, 

The UK continues to play a key function in it assist to Ukraine. As the DG studies, the UK offered assist for a collection of psychological well being workshops for Ukrainian NPP occupational psychologists. In the context of extended battle and sustained strain on nuclear personnel, such assist is important.  

Chair, 

We welcome the Agency’s continued dedication to adjust to UN General Assembly decision 11/4 adopted on 12 October 2022 and all related resolutions from the IAEA coverage making organs.  

These frameworks underscore the significance of respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, which is inseparable from making certain nuclear security and safety in Ukraine. As lengthy as Russia continues its aggression, the dangers stay extreme.  

Finally Chair, 

The Russian Ambassador spoke about double requirements.  On that theme, I observe how deeply cynical Russia’s denunciation of acts of aggression in Iran was. Let’s not neglect, the identical Russia that claims to assist the rules of worldwide regulation in relation to Iran overtly violated these rules via its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine – an act explicitly condemned by the UN General Assembly as unlawful and a breach of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. I might recommend that Russia’s posture on Iran, and its requires diplomacy, should not principled – they’re hypocritical, a calculated distraction from Russia’s personal violations and a transparent case of double requirements. I urge colleagues to not lose sight of that. 

Thank you, Chair.