China warns that an accident in Zaporiyia “could be more serious than the Fukushima nuclear accident.”

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The Chinese representative to the UN, Zhang Jun, has warned Thursday before the Security Council that an accident at the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant could be more serious than the nuclear accident that took place in Fukushima in 2011.

“The Zaporiyia nuclear power plant is one of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe. If a large-scale nuclear accident occurs, it may be more serious than the Fukushima accident,” Jun has assured, while saying that China does not want “the same risk” to be repeated, according to a statement from the Chinese mission to the United Nations.

At the Security Council meeting held Thursday at Russia’s request to discuss the lack of safety of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, the Chinese representative called on the parties to exercise “restraint, act prudently, avoid taking actions that endanger nuclear safety.”

All in all, China has shown its support for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to play “an active role” in promoting nuclear safety and security issues. It has also urged Russia and Ukraine to remove “relevant obstacles” for a team of the agency’s experts to come to the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant to carry out their work smoothly.

Moreover, Jun has stressed that, after five months of war and knowing the security risks posed by the conflict to nuclear facilities, “only by cooling down the situation and restoring peace at an early date can nuclear risks be fundamentally eliminated.”

“Once again, we call on all parties involved to resume negotiations as soon as possible, seek a solution to the Ukraine crisis with a calm and rational attitude, address each other’s legitimate security concerns, and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture to achieve common security,” the Chinese representative said.

“China has always advocated abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and respecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity. We call on all parties in the international community to push for a proper resolution of the crisis in a responsible manner, intensify political and diplomatic efforts, and create conditions for the parties to resume negotiations,” he added.

The UN Security Council met on Thursday at Moscow’s request, and was attended by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who had already announced this week that he would participate in the meeting and would ask the UN to facilitate a mission of experts to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant.

The Zaporiyia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and controlled by Russia despite being on Ukrainian territory, has been the scene of clashes since the beginning of the war, initiated at the end of February on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In recent days it has gained notoriety again after a series of attacks in the vicinity of the plant, whose authorship has been mutually reproached by Kiev and Moscow, and which has reawakened fears of a possible nuclear disaster, despite the fact that radiation levels are normal.