The UN nuclear watchdog has expressed concern over allegations that Russian forces have surrounded Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant and called for workers to be left alone to do their jobs, according to the UN Security Council. Guardian.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Russian government had informed the agency that its troops had taken control of the area around the plant in Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine, the second largest in Europe. are located 6 of the 15 reactors in the country.
In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russian officials insisted that Ukrainian personnel at the plant were “working to ensure nuclear safety and to monitor radiation in a normal way.”
However, the Ukrainian state-owned company that runs the country’s nuclear industry, Energoatom, accused the Russian military of “openly terrorizing the station staff and residents of its satellite town of Energodar.”
Ukraine has asked the IAEA to declare a 30-kilometer safe zone around Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants.
Grossi told a meeting of the IAEA Board in Vienna that “it is crucial that armed conflict and ground operations around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and any other nuclear facilities in Ukraine are not disrupted or endangered.” the people who work in and around them “.
The IAEA also noted that the flow of radioactive data from Zaporizhia had been suspended on Tuesday and that the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate (SNRIU) was trying to find out the reason for the interruption and restore the flow of data.
Grossi expressed concern about a report by the SNRIU that since the Russians took over the Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 disaster in northwestern Ukraine near the border with Belarus, staff there had not been allowed to go home. .
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Louis Bono, said: “Ukrainian personnel at the construction site have not been allowed to leave and have been forced to work several shifts. “This additional stress on staff performing critical tasks poses a further risk to the safety and security of the space and the public.”
In his remarks, Grossi said: “The staff working at [εργοστάσιο του Τσερνομπίλ] to be able to do his job safely and efficiently and that his personal well-being is guaranteed by those who have taken control “.
The remnants of the reactor core that exploded in 1986 are buried under concrete at the site, while there are also spent fuel storage facilities and a large amount of radioactive dust in the surrounding plant soil.
The accumulation of soil by Russian military vehicles caused limited peaks of radioactivity. In a statement, Energoatom said: “Being in the exclusion zone now and obviously lacking the skills to ensure personal safety when working in radioactively contaminated areas, intruders are exposed to significant external and internal radiation, which will undoubtedly manifest with form of cancer “.
On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said Russian missiles had hit the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Kyiv. The previous day, an electrical transformer at another waste facility in Kharkov was damaged. In both cases there was no radioactive release, but the incidents highlighted the potential threat of ecological disaster from an ongoing war in a country with an extensive nuclear industry.
The American Nuclear Society (ANS), an association of industry professionals, seeks to send material support to Ukraine to help nuclear workers there.
“Ukraine’s nuclear staff must be able to carry out their duties without undue pressure or fear of being killed or injured,” the ANS said in a statement. “Ukraine’s nuclear power workers need rest between shifts, access to their homes and the peace of mind that their loved ones are safe.
The president of the society, Steven Nesbit, said that he hopes that the Russian invaders know the dangers of a nuclear accident.
“All I can say is that it’s hard to believe they would not be sensitive to the issues here,” Nesbit said. “Russia and Vladimir Putin must take all possible measures to avoid becoming even more of a rogue nation than they have been.”
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