The UN’s nuclear watchdog says it is no longer receiving transmissions from systems monitoring safeguards at the Russian-controlled Chernobyl nuclear plant, site of the worst-ever nuclear accident.
The IAEA warns that 210 employees at the plant have been held there by Russian soldiers for 13 days straight, saying that a shift change is needed.
“The same shift has been on duty at the Chornobyl NPP since the day before the Russian military entered the site of the 1986 accident on 24 February, in effect living there for the past 13 days,” the IAEA says.
Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant stands encased in lead and concrete following the accident in April 1986, that released a cloud of radiation that circled the world in Pripyat, Ukraine in July 1988. (AP Photo/Mark J. Porubcansky)
Russian troops captured the site and the surrounding exclusion zone on the first day of fighting last month, with little resistance.
The agency says 8 of 15 reactors in Ukraine are in operation, including two in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was also captured by Russian soldiers.
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at Chornobyl NPP and potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi says.
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