IAEA Director General Statement on Ukraine and Chernobyl

Remote data transmission from safeguard monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl site had been lost.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is looking into the status of safeguard monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon.

Ukraine told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday that it was becoming increasingly urgent and important for the safe management of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) to rotate some 210 technical personnel and guards who have been working there since Russian forces took control of the site almost two weeks ago, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

In contrast to the current situation for staff at Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants who are rotating regularly, the same shift has been on duty at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant since the day before the Russian military entered the site on 24 February. The Ukrainian regulator added that the staff had access to food and water, and medicine to a limited extent. However, the situation for the staff was worsening. It asked the IAEA to lead the international support needed to prepare a plan for replacing the current personnel and for providing the facility with an effective rotation system.

Grossi has repeatedly stressed that staff operating nuclear facilities must be able to rest and work in regular shifts, stating this is crucial for overall nuclear safety. Their capacity to make decisions free of undue pressure is among the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security he outlined at a meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors on 2 March, convened to address the safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine.

‘I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the 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,’ he said.

Regarding the status of Ukraine’s operational nuclear power plants, the regulator said eight of the country’s 15 reactors were operating, including two at the Zaporizhzhya site controlled since last week by Russian forces, and that the plants’ personnel were working in shifts. Radiation levels at the sites were normal, it said.