Davos:

India’s nuclear reactors are “absolutely safe” as it applies the highest levels of safety standards to its civil nuclear programme, the chief of global nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has told NDTV.

In an interview on the sidelines of Davos 2025, IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi was asked how safe India’s nuclear reactors are. ”Absolutely safe. India applies to its civilian nuclear programme the highest levels of internationally agreed and IAEA established nuclear safety standards and security guidance,” he replied.

On India’s fast-breeder nuclear reactor programme, the first of which is being developed at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Grossi said, “It could be an interesting add-on to its fleet.”

India has imposed a voluntarily moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since the Pokhran tests in 1998. Asked if New Delhi would be within its rights to test if China or Pakistan went ahead with nuclear tests, Gross replied, ”Our position and the position of the international community is that we should move to a general ban on nuclear testing so we hope that there won’t be a need for further testing, neither in the subcontinent nor elsewhere.”

To a question on whether India should be a part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which currently has 48 countries as its members, the IAEA chief said, ”I have been President of the Nuclear Suppliers group and I interacted very actively in trying to bring this to an equitable solution, including with other countries which had similar aspirations. My interactions, even with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, were extremely useful. We were very close at the time to a good outcome.”

“Of course, there is a bigger, wider political scene which enters into the situation when it comes to that. This is for the members to decide,” he added.

To a question on whether the India-US civil nuclear deal is set to achieve its full potential as Washington DC tries to negotiate the liability clause that will enable it to build reactors in India, Grossi said it was for India and US to decide. What I can say is that the Indian civil nuclear programme is among the biggest and most diverse worldwide. “India has every [nuclear] technology and masters every technology in a very good way. I believe that with the current expansion and interest in nuclear energy, we are the best position to see those levels of cooperation and trade grow,” he said.

The IAEA chief also took questions on the situation in Ukraine and said there were several occasions when the watchdog feared a nuclear accident. “Zaporizhzia is right in the middle, on the frontline, extremely fragile. It has been subject to shelling, and more frequently, blackouts. This means loss of cooling function might have led to a nuclear accident. We are counting it by the day when we have situations like this. It is one of the biggest challenges that IAEA faces,” he said.

On the West Asia situation, Grossi said that while the nuclear watchdog does not have any evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, it has accumulated vast levels of enriched Uranium which is “very, very close” to weapon-level grade. He also said the IAEA have not received Tehran’s full cooperation in inspections and in clarifying its questions.

Davos:

India’s nuclear reactors are “absolutely safe” as it applies the highest levels of safety standards to its civil nuclear programme, the chief of global nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has told NDTV.

In an interview on the sidelines of Davos 2025, IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi was asked how safe India’s nuclear reactors are. ”Absolutely safe. India applies to its civilian nuclear programme the highest levels of internationally agreed and IAEA established nuclear safety standards and security guidance,” he replied.

On India’s fast-breeder nuclear reactor programme, the first of which is being developed at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Grossi said, “It could be an interesting add-on to its fleet.”

India has imposed a voluntarily moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since the Pokhran tests in 1998. Asked if New Delhi would be within its rights to test if China or Pakistan went ahead with nuclear tests, Gross replied, ”Our position and the position of the international community is that we should move to a general ban on nuclear testing so we hope that there won’t be a need for further testing, neither in the subcontinent nor elsewhere.”

To a question on whether India should be a part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which currently has 48 countries as its members, the IAEA chief said, ”I have been President of the Nuclear Suppliers group and I interacted very actively in trying to bring this to an equitable solution, including with other countries which had similar aspirations. My interactions, even with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, were extremely useful. We were very close at the time to a good outcome.”

“Of course, there is a bigger, wider political scene which enters into the situation when it comes to that. This is for the members to decide,” he added.

To a question on whether the India-US civil nuclear deal is set to achieve its full potential as Washington DC tries to negotiate the liability clause that will enable it to build reactors in India, Grossi said it was for India and US to decide. What I can say is that the Indian civil nuclear programme is among the biggest and most diverse worldwide. “India has every [nuclear] technology and masters every technology in a very good way. I believe that with the current expansion and interest in nuclear energy, we are the best position to see those levels of cooperation and trade grow,” he said.

The IAEA chief also took questions on the situation in Ukraine and said there were several occasions when the watchdog feared a nuclear accident. “Zaporizhzia is right in the middle, on the frontline, extremely fragile. It has been subject to shelling, and more frequently, blackouts. This means loss of cooling function might have led to a nuclear accident. We are counting it by the day when we have situations like this. It is one of the biggest challenges that IAEA faces,” he said.

On the West Asia situation, Grossi said that while the nuclear watchdog does not have any evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, it has accumulated vast levels of enriched Uranium which is “very, very close” to weapon-level grade. He also said the IAEA have not received Tehran’s full cooperation in inspections and in clarifying its questions.

Manama, Bahrain:

Iran is “dramatically” increasing the amount of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% of weapons grade, that it is able to produce, the watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters in an interview.

The move is certain to cause even greater alarm in Western capitals already arguing that there is no civil justification for Iran’s enrichment to that level as no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs, which Iran denies pursuing.

Iran already has enough material enriched to up to 60%, its most highly enriched stock, for four nuclear weapons in principle if it enriched it further, according to an IAEA yardstick. It has enough for more at lower enrichment levels.

“Today the agency is announcing that the production capacity is increasing dramatically of the 60% inventory,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Grossi said on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain’s capital.

He added that it was set to rise to “seven, eight times more, maybe, or even more” than the previous rate of 5-7 kg a month.

The move is also a setback for Grossi since he said after a trip to Iran last month that Tehran had accepted his “request” that it cap its stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% to ease diplomatic tensions, calling it “a concrete step in the right direction”.

Diplomats said at the time, however, that Iran’s step, which included preparing to implement that cap, was conditional on the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors not passing a resolution against Iran over its insufficient cooperation with the agency, which the Board then did regardless.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Last week, the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution calling on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog and reverse its recent barring of inspectors.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran called upon the Group of Seven (G7) on June 16 to distance itself from “destructive policies of the past”, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said, referring to a G7 statement condemning Iran’s recent nuclear programme escalation.

On June 14, the G7 warned Iran against advancing its nuclear enrichment programme and said they would be ready to enforce new measures if Tehran were to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia.

“Any attempt to link the war in Ukraine to the bilateral cooperation between Iran and Russia is an act with only biased political goals,” Mr. Kanaani said, adding that some countries are “resorting to false claims to continue sanctions” against Iran.

Last week, the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution calling on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog and reverse its recent barring of inspectors.

Iran responded by rapidly installing extra uranium-enriching centrifuges at its Fordow site and begun setting up others, according to a International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report.

Mr. Kanaani added Tehran would continue its “constructive interaction and technical cooperation” with the IAEA, but called its resolution “politically biased.”

Iran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the 90% of weapons grade, and has enough material enriched to that level, if enriched further, for three nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The United Nations (UN) nuclear chief on September 18 said he asked to meet Iran’s President on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to try to reverse Tehran’s “uncalled for” ban on “a very sizable chunk” of the agency’s inspectors.

Rafael Grossi stressed that the Iranian government’s removal of many agency cameras and electronic monitoring systems installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also make it impossible to give assurances about the country’s nuclear programme.

Mr. Grossi said he wrote to President Ebrahim Raisi telling him it is “very important” to meet about Tehran’s targeting of inspectors, including “some of the best and most experienced”.

“I’m waiting for an answer,” Mr. Grossi said in an interview with The Associated Press on September 18.

He also warned that escalating fighting is increasing the danger of a nuclear accident at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine. Mr. Grossi said he is seeking to re-establish a dialogue with North Korea, which expelled UN nuclear weapons inspectors in 2009.

And he invited China to see how the IAEA tests treated water released from Japan’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, which led Beijing to ban Japanese seafood.

The IAEA chief said Iran has the right to determine who enters the country, but he said he didn’t understand why Tehran was withdrawing authorisation for a “good number” of inspectors, which is “making my job much more difficult”. He called it a step in the wrong direction.

“It’s very difficult to get the expertise to go to very sophisticated uranium enrichment facilities with thousands of (centrifuge) cascades, lots of tubing and piping, and it requires … a lot of experience,” he explained. “So, when you start limiting that … I have to say, this is not good. Stop it!” Iran has denied impeding the work of IAEA inspectors though it has also been years since its experts have been able to examine surveillance footage.

The Vienna-based IAEA reported earlier this month that Iran had slowed the pace of enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels. That was seen as a sign that Tehran was trying to ease tensions after years of strain with the United States, and one that took place as the rivals were negotiating a prisoner swap and the release of billions in frozen Iranian assets — which all took place on Monday.

Since Iran started limiting the actions of IAEA inspectors a little over a year ago, Mr. Grossi said, the agency hasn’t been able to see how many centrifuges and parts needed to assemble them are being produced.

So when the IAEA has to draw a baseline of where Iran’s nuclear programme is, he said, “How do I do it?” Mr. Grossi said military operations are increasing near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is on the front line of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The June 6 destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Russian-controlled territory led to deadly flooding, ruined crops in one of the world’s breadbaskets and lowered the level of water used to cool Zaporizhzhia’s reactors.

“Complications are adding up,” Mr. Grossi said, “and making the safety of the plant very, very fragile.” Initially, he said he urged both sides to adopt a no-fire zone outside the plant. That became impossible. So he has been urging the Ukrainians and Russians not to attack any nuclear plant.

Zaporizhzhia is in a Russian-controlled area but is staffed mainly by Ukrainians. There are also some Russian experts and IAEA inspectors who from time to time have acted as “a buffer” and defused some tense situations, Mr. Grossi said.

The IAEA chief called North Korea’s growing nuclear programme “one of the most difficult issues we have in front of us”.

Since the expulsion of IAEA inspectors in 2009, Mr. Grossi said, the agency has followed what Pyongyang has done from afar. “North Korea has become a de facto nuclear weapon possessor state,” he said, and that is “not a good development”.

Mr. Grossi said North Korea’s programme, including enrichment and construction of new reactors, has been growing without international monitoring or assessment of its safety. He wouldn’t say who the IAEA is engaging with to try to “turn the page” with North Korea but did say: “I am optimistic.” As for China’s concerns about the water being discharged from Japan’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, Mr. Grossi said IAEA daily monitoring shows the level of tritium, a radionucleide that could be problematic, is extremely low.

The IAEA chief said South Korea also had concerns about the water being discharged from Fukushima, which was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. He said he spoke to the President and Foreign Minister, and South Korea sent experts to see how the monitoring of the discharged water is being carried out.

Mr. Grossi said he wrote to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi a few days ago making a similar offer to explain the IAEA’s activities. He expressed hope that he could meet Wang in New York “to dispel doubts.” said Mr. Grossi: “I’m eager and available.”