UN / IAEA GROSSI PRESSER

STORY: UN / IAEA GROSSI PRESSER
TRT: 3:47
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 21 SEPTEMBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Exterior shot, UN Headquarters

21 SEPTEMBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“So now we started with the real negotiation of the parameters of the zone. This is a process which is carried out only with Ukraine and also of course with Russia. So this is this is one thing. Getting an agreement today would have been nice, but you can imagine that these are very complex issues that require perhaps a bit more than one meeting. But we are already working on the very concrete aspects that would be required to have the zone been established.”
4. Close up, journalist asking question
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“What is clear, and this is why I mentioned the number of people and ministers and even presidents and prime ministers that I met in these few hours here, is that there is, I would say, above the differences that do exist, there is a conviction that the establishment of the zone is indispensable. Let’s be clear, this nuclear power plant being shelled. So you need to protect it in some way. And we have the means, the technical knowledge, as the IAEA, to know what needs to be done and how to do it.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“In terms of preoccupation, it's huge. Since the shelling and the bombardment doesn't stop, since almost every day we have a new episode. After I visited separate Zaporizhzhia, for a few days, without being absolutely quiet, it became a bit better, but then problems reappeared and what we saw in the last few hours was again, shelling and direct attacks on the facilities.”
8. Med shot, journalists asking questions
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“I'm very worried. One of the things that happened was that a pool where spent nuclear fuel is being cooled stopped operations because one pipeline was affected, etc. So anytime something can happen. I've been saying this for many, many months, we are playing with fire. We continue to play with fire. I'm trying to do as much as I can, as fast as I can.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“Our Inspections continue. What has happened is that we have been limited, some of our capacities have been curtailed or interrupted. Where we stand is that we have been reporting, including to the Board of Governors of the IAEA, on what I have characterized as a lack of progress in the engagement. And I have been manifesting to our Iranian counterparts that we are ready to re-engage.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“These things are not going to be wished away, they are there, and we need to clarify. I hope in the next few days to be able to reestablish some contacts so that we can continue with this process, which has been lingering for a long time.”
14. Wide shot, General Assembly

STORYLINE:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started “the real negotiation” to create a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, the agency’s Director-General informed.

Speaking to journalists today (21 Sep) on the sidelines of the General Debate of the General Assembly, Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had met with the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Ukraine and Russia, the President of France, among others, and was now working on “very concrete aspects” of the agreement.

Grossi said that “getting an agreement today would have been nice, but you can imagine that these are very complex issues that require perhaps a bit more than one meeting.”

For the IAEA chief, what is clear is that “above the differences that do exist, there is a conviction that the establishment of the zone is indispensable.”

“Let’s be clear, this nuclear power plant being shelled. So you need to protect it in some way. And we have the means, the technical knowledge, as the IAEA, to know what needs to be done and how to do it,” assured Grossi.

He said his levels of concern were “huge”, since “the shelling and the bombardment doesn't stop” and “almost every day we have a new episode.”

The agency chief described some improvements in the beginning of the moment, but now “shelling and direct attacks on the facilities” were taking place again.

He described, for example, the moment when a pool where spent nuclear fuel is being cooled stopped operations because one pipeline was affected.

“So anytime something can happen. I've been saying this for many, many months, we are playing with fire. We continue to play with fire. I'm trying to do as much as I can, as fast as I can,” said Grossi.

The IAEA chief also answered some questions about the situation in Iran.

According to him, the inspections on the country’s nuclear program continue, but some of the agency’s capacities “have been curtailed or interrupted.”

Grossi described the situation as “a lack of progress in the engagement” and said that he has been manifesting to the Iranian side that the agency is “ready to re-engage.”

“These things are not going to be wished away, they are there, and we need to clarify. I hope in the next few days to be able to reestablish some contacts so that we can continue with this process, which has been lingering for a long time,” the IAEA chief concluded.