[INTERVIEW] IAEA's Grossi faces nuclear challenges on a global scale

Diplomacy

Published: 16 Dec. 2022, 17:12

[INTERVIEW] IAEA's Grossi faces nuclear challenges on a global scale

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks with the press at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Friday. [NEWS1]

A possible nuclear accident in Ukraine, a Japanese plan to release contaminated water into the ocean and an impending nuclear test by North Korea are some of the challenges facing the chief of the international authority on nuclear safety.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), flew into Seoul last Wednesday to discuss them with President Yoon Suk-yeol and relevant authorities.

Just a day before, he was in a meeting with the French president and Ukrainian prime minister in Paris discussing the prevention of a nuclear accident in Ukraine, which has the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia. The horrors of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown in the country in 1986 are still fresh in the memories of many Ukrainians.

In speaking with a group of reporters at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Friday, Grossi admitted that the possibility of a nuclear accident in Ukraine “is real,” that North Korea appears ready to conduct another nuclear test, and that Korea and China’s worries about the planned discharge of Fukushima wastewater are “being taken very seriously.”

In his responses about what the international nuclear safety authority might be doing to keep the possible nuclear hazards at bay, if not resolve them, Grossi had a few words he kept going back to: efforts, preparations and commitments.

The following are edited excerpts of the interview with Grossi on Friday at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.

What is the latest on nuclear activities in the North?

There is a very intensive effort on the part of the country to continue to move forward with its accumulation of nuclear material, [reproduction of plutonium] and uranium enrichment. The Yongbyon reactor is in operation cycle, and that normally goes for between three and four years. So it could be completed by 2023 or 2024, and maybe after that the chemical laboratory is going to start operating, and we have seen preparation work following the pattern that we have seen in the past. This is why we believe that the information we have is pretty reliable in terms of the work that they are undertaking.

There is also the activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test range where we have seen ample work on the Number Three tunnel. Judging by past experience, the country is having everything in order to proceed with another test. Of course, not being there and not having the opportunity to talk to the leadership there, I cannot say whether they are going to do it or not. But this is the information we have.

What did you discuss in your meeting with President Yoon and Foreign Minister Park Jin?

I have described to them the activities that we have been undertaking in terms of preparing our workforce to return to North Korea if there is an opportunity. Especially with the president, I reiterated to him the availability of the IAEA to play even a wider role to resolve this situation. I am persuaded that opening channels of communication is indispensable. I am also persuaded that the IAEA can play a constructive role in this regard.

The planned release of wastewater from Fukushima has been an issue of great public interest in Korea. The IAEA said it will be monitoring the process. Can you share more details?

First of all, we consider the concerns that have been expressed here about this process very important. We take them very, very seriously. The IAEA Is committed to ensure that all of this process, when it gets to the controlled discharge of treated water, will be done in strict compliance with international safety standards.

The IAEA is undertaking missions in different dimensions. We are making sure that the necessary standards are identified in the work of the Japanese regulatory [authority], which we have affirmed. Another area is with Tepco and the facility itself. Here, what we need to establish is that its sound processes are in place. All of this translates into looking at the so-called ALPS [Advanced Liquid Processing System] process, which is the process to cleanse the water of the radio nuclides it may still contain, or to make sure that any remaining radio nuclides, in particular tritium, are at levels well below those already in nature or to ensure that this controlled discharge will have no impact on the water, on the marine sediment and even on fish. This requires a number of activities, quite detailed activities, and every mission, every report that the IAEA produces has been addressing these systematically.

You have said before that there is a low possibility that Russia will use nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine. On what basis do you think that?

The issue of the possible use of nuclear weapons has been addressed by the Russian government itself, they have indicated that they do not foresee this possibility. I have been saying that nuclear weapons should never be used. And in this case of the ongoing war, one does not see clearly how this situation could call for anybody to use nuclear weapons.

The IAEA has been active on this matter where we could be. There were once allegations of a so-called Dirty Bomb, a radiological device, in Ukraine, and that should Ukraine resort to this type of weapon, it could justify the use of nuclear weapons [by Russia against Ukraine]. To thwart any such possibility, I spoke with the Ukrainian foreign minister and I asked him to invite our inspectors to go to their facilities related to the allegations. We were able to determine that there was no such activity, and in this way we could provide a practical way forward to dispel the possibility of nuclear weapons being used [in the war].

There are reports that you will be meeting again with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I saw President Putin, I have seen President Zelenskyy on several occasions, and I will probably be seeing them again. My main effort at the moment is to prevent a nuclear accident, and the possibility of a nuclear accident is real. Because the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest and biggest in the whole of Europe, is under constant shelling or subjected to repeated interruptions in power supply, which could lead to stopping the cooling systems and hence a nuclear accident. So I have been consulting just before coming to Seoul, and will be in Moscow next week to continue. I cannot guarantee that I will be successful but I am exerting every possible effort.

Do you think the Australia-U.K.-U.S. nuclear submarine deal could upend the international nonproliferation regime?

This is a very important question, and I am aware of the political repercussions that this decision is [having] in particular in this region. The three countries involved are still in a process of technical exchanges to see what kind of system they are going to adapt, what kind of reactor they will be applying, and once they have a conclusion about that, then we will have to sit down with them and see what are the necessary technical activities that we will have to perform in order to prevent any proliferation stemming from this project.

BY JOINT PRESS CORPS,ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]