The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) held a new extraordinary meeting on Sunday afternoon with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to update the available data on the safety and security of the Ukrainian nuclear installations, paying particular attention to the situation in Zaparozhzhya following the Russian military aggression. On behalf of the Spanish Safety Nuclear Council (CSN), the Commissioner, Javier Dies, and the Technical Director for Nuclear Safety, Juan Carlos Lentijo, attended. The Ukrainian regulator (the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, SNRIU), the Western European Regulators Association (WENRA) and two observers (Switzerland and the United Kingdom) also participated in the meeting.

On the 4th of March, ENSREG already published a joint statement deploring the Russian intervention in the Zaparozhzhya facilities. In the new statement, ENSREG adds its concern for the Kharkiv facilities, showing his concern about the situation, given the very serious consequences that an attack or the interruption of normal activity in the facilities could have for Europe and for the whole world. The ENSREG institutional statement is available on its website: https://www.ensreg.eu/document/ensreg-statement-ukraine-6-march-2022

The latest data available through the Ukrainian regulator and the IAEA confirm that the situation is under control and that two of the reactors that were blocked are back in operation. Likewise, the international Agency draws attention to the worrying situation that could lead to the damage of certain safety components in the facilities, as well as the working conditions of the operating staff. ENSREG recalls in its statement that "any armed attack and threat against nuclear facilities dedicated to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the Statute of the Agency". Similarly, they call on the Russian Federation to cease all armed activity so that the Ukrainian regulator can resume its activity.

The regulators have shown their support for the initiative of the president of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, to hold a three-way meeting with the Russian and Ukrainian authorities in order to guarantee the integrity, safety and security of the facilities in the country and insisted on the importance of ensuring the conditions of the professionals who maintain the safety of the facilities and the operation of the equipment.

ENSREG will continue to coordinate closely on all these matters with the IAEA, given the concerns regarding nuclear safety, and will closely monitor the situation and call new meetings whenever the situation requires it.

ENSREG is a high-level advisory group created in 2007 at the request of the European Commission to raise recommendations to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament on Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Waste Management. The CSN participates in its meetings as well as in ENSREG working groups dedicated to the areas of Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, International Cooperation and Communication and Transparency of the regulatory body.

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