KYIV: UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi on Tuesday said he had many questions for the Russian team in control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ahead of a visit to the facility.
Concerns have surrounded the safety of the power plant — Europe’s largest nuclear power station — since it was seized by Russian forces in March 2022.
Its six reactors have been shut down, unprecedented for a plant of its size.
“On a technical point of view, we have many questions and we are trying to address these one by one with the administration,” Grossi said in a press conference in Kyiv.
Grossi heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that has had a monitoring team on the ground since September 2022.
But its experts have not been able to inspect every part of the power station, said Grossi, who will visit the plant on Wednesday.
At times “we weren’t granted the access that we were requesting for certain areas of the facility,” Grossi said.
“We were allowed partial access,” he said, but “there are still some parts of the plant we have not been able to visit.”
The Russian operator has started granting increasing access, Grossi said in Kyiv on Tuesday after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The nuclear chief also raised the alarm over a drastic reduction in staff numbers at the plant, which he plans to discuss on Wednesday with the Russian operator.
Only around 4,500 staff are employed on site — down from 11,500 before the war — triggering safety worries.
Grossi said he had fresh concerns over staffing levels after the Russian operator barred pro-Ukrainian staff from working at the plant.
The IAEA has repeatedly warned of persistent nuclear safety and security risks at the site.
Grossi nevertheless hailed a “gradual increase in the way that both (Russian and Ukrainian) sides are following what the IAEA says.”
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‘Many questions’ for IAEA visit of Russian-held nuclear plant
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‘Many questions’ for IAEA visit of Russian-held nuclear plant
- Its six reactors have been shut down, unprecedented for a plant of its size
- At times “we weren’t granted the access that we were requesting for certain areas of the facility,” Grossi said
Germany eyes lasers, spy satellites in military space spending splurge
SINGAPORE: Germany is weighing investments ranging from spy satellites and space planes to offensive lasers under a 35 billion euro ($41 billion) military space spending plan aimed at countering growing threats from Russia and China in orbit, the country’s space commander said.
Germany will build an encrypted military constellation of more than 100 satellites, known as SATCOM Stage 4, over the next few years, the head of German Space Command Michael Traut told Reuters on the sidelines of a space event ahead of the Singapore Airshow.
He said the network would mirror the model used by the US Space Development Agency, a Pentagon unit that deploys low-Earth-orbit satellites for communications and missile tracking.
Rheinmetall is in talks with German satellite maker OHB about a joint bid for an unnamed German military satellite project, Reuters reported last week.
The potential deal comes as Europe’s top three space firms — Airbus, Thales and Leonardo — are seeking to build a European satellite communications alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Traut said Germany’s investment in military space architecture reflected a sharply more contested space environment since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Berlin and its European allies, he said, needed to bolster their deterrence posture by investing not only in secure communications but also in capabilities that could hinder or disable hostile space systems.
“(We need to) improve our deterrence posture in space, since space has become an operational or even warfighting domain, and we are perfectly aware that our systems, our space capabilities, need to be protected and defended,” Traut said.
INSPECTOR SATELLITES AND LASERS
Germany will channel funding into intelligence-gathering satellites, sensors and systems designed to disrupt adversary spacecraft, including lasers and equipment capable of targeting ground-based infrastructure, Traut said.
He added that Germany would prioritize small and large domestic and European suppliers for the program.
Traut emphasized Germany would not field destructive weapons in orbit that could generate debris, but said a range of non-kinetic options existed to disrupt hostile satellites, including jamming, lasers and actions against ground control stations.
He also pointed to so-called inspector satellites — small spacecraft capable of maneuvering close to other satellites — which he said Russia and China had already deployed.
“There is a broad range of possible effects in the electromagnetic spectrum, in the optical, in the laser spectrum, and even some active physical things like inspector satellites,” he said.
“You could even go after ground segments of a space system in order to deny that system to your adversary or to tell him, ‘If you do something to us in space, we might do something to you in other domains as well.’”
Germany will build an encrypted military constellation of more than 100 satellites, known as SATCOM Stage 4, over the next few years, the head of German Space Command Michael Traut told Reuters on the sidelines of a space event ahead of the Singapore Airshow.
He said the network would mirror the model used by the US Space Development Agency, a Pentagon unit that deploys low-Earth-orbit satellites for communications and missile tracking.
Rheinmetall is in talks with German satellite maker OHB about a joint bid for an unnamed German military satellite project, Reuters reported last week.
The potential deal comes as Europe’s top three space firms — Airbus, Thales and Leonardo — are seeking to build a European satellite communications alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Traut said Germany’s investment in military space architecture reflected a sharply more contested space environment since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Berlin and its European allies, he said, needed to bolster their deterrence posture by investing not only in secure communications but also in capabilities that could hinder or disable hostile space systems.
“(We need to) improve our deterrence posture in space, since space has become an operational or even warfighting domain, and we are perfectly aware that our systems, our space capabilities, need to be protected and defended,” Traut said.
INSPECTOR SATELLITES AND LASERS
Germany will channel funding into intelligence-gathering satellites, sensors and systems designed to disrupt adversary spacecraft, including lasers and equipment capable of targeting ground-based infrastructure, Traut said.
He added that Germany would prioritize small and large domestic and European suppliers for the program.
Traut emphasized Germany would not field destructive weapons in orbit that could generate debris, but said a range of non-kinetic options existed to disrupt hostile satellites, including jamming, lasers and actions against ground control stations.
He also pointed to so-called inspector satellites — small spacecraft capable of maneuvering close to other satellites — which he said Russia and China had already deployed.
“There is a broad range of possible effects in the electromagnetic spectrum, in the optical, in the laser spectrum, and even some active physical things like inspector satellites,” he said.
“You could even go after ground segments of a space system in order to deny that system to your adversary or to tell him, ‘If you do something to us in space, we might do something to you in other domains as well.’”
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