IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks to journalists at a Ukrainian checkpoint after a part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission returned from a Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on 1 of September. (Photo: Anna Voitenko/Reuters) The day after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s publicized visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, a team of five inspectors remains on site. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi declared that the UN nuclear watchdog “is not going anywhere” and that it will have a “continuous presence” at the plant. Extending the IAEA’s presence at the plant would help avert the possibility of a dangerous nuclear accident. However, it is not entirely clear what that continued presence might look like. Grossi — who left the plant Thursday — said he would brief the agency’s Board of Governors “and then we’re establishing an ongoing presence there … so they can continue to provide me and all of us with the unbiased, neutral and technically sound assessment of what might be going on there. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians have demanded that the IAEA press for the demilitarization of the area around the plant, currently in the hands of Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his Thursday video message that demilitarization was “the goal of Ukrainian and international efforts. And it is bad that we have not yet heard the corresponding call from the IAEA. Although we already discussed it with Mr. Grossi at our meeting in Kyiv. It was the key point — the key — of security in our agreements: demilitarization and total control by our nuclear workers.” But such a move would be beyond the IAEA’s limited mandate, and the agency shows no sign of addressing it. Instead, Grossi emphasized the technical nature of the visit during his stay in Zaporizhia and the examination of what he called “three or four key areas” of the plant, including emergency systems and control rooms. The “seven pillars” of the agency’s framework include the physical integrity of the facilities, their security systems, the security of off-site energy supplies, effective radiation control systems, and reliable communications with the regulator.