UN Secretary General Warns Any Attack on Nuclear Power Plants is Suicide

TOKYO, KOMPAS.com – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any attack on nuclear plants is “suicide”.

The call was made on Monday (8/8/2022) after a new shooting in the Russia Ukraine war that hit the massive atomic power complex in southern Ukraine.

Also read: Summary of Day 165 of Russia’s Attack on Ukraine, Dangerous Threats from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Amnesty International Chief Resigns

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for latest attack in nuclear power plant (NPP) Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power site, has been under Russian control since the early days of the war.

Friday’s battle (08/05/2022) prompted the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to warn of the “very real risk of nuclear disaster“.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Guterres condemned such attacks without saying either side was responsible.

“We support the IAEA in their efforts to create conditions for stabilization of the plant,” he said AFP.

“Any attack on a nuclear plant is suicide. I hope the attack will end, and at the same time I hope the IAEA will be able to access the plant.”

Also read: Ukraine Claims Part of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Damaged by Russian Attack

His comments followed a visit to Hiroshima over the weekend, where Guterres gave a speech to mark the 77th anniversary of the world’s first nuclear bomb attack.

In the Japanese city on Saturday (6/8/2022), he warned that “humans are playing with active weapons”, as crises with potential nuclear catastrophes multiply around the world, from Ukraine to the Middle East and the Korean peninsula.

The 73-year-old Portuguese also delivered a stern warning against the horrors of atomic weapons a week ago in New York, at a key conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which he repeated on Monday (8/8/2022).

“We are witnessing a radicalization in a geopolitical situation that makes the risk of nuclear war returning to something we cannot completely forget,” he said.

Also read: Ukraine accuses Russia of storing heavy weapons in Europe’s largest nuclear power plant

When asked about China’s massive military exercises around Taiwan, sparked by a visit last week to the self-ruled island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Guterres said the United Nations was “complying with General Assembly resolutions, the so-called One China policy.”

“But we all want the resolution to fit into a peaceful environment,” he said, calling for common sense and restraint to allow for a “very important” de-escalation.

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