Wednesday, March 09, 2022

IAEA head offers to go to Ukraine after another nuclear facility damaged

"We must take action to help avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine," Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said. 
 File Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA-EFE

March 8 (UPI) -- The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has offered to visit Ukraine for talks to secure its nuclear facilities after another building containing radioactive material was damaged by Russian shelling over the weekend.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a statement Monday that he's willing to travel to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to secure a commitment to the safety and security of all of Ukraine's facilities.

"We must take action to help avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine that could have severe consequences for public health and the environment," he said. "We can't afford to wait."

Grossi's offer follows Ukraine informing the IAEA that shelling in the city of Kharkiv on Sunday damaged a new nuclear research facility that produces radioisotopes for medical and industrial uses.

While radiological consequences of the facility being damaged are not expected due to nuclear material in the facility being subcritical and its inventory of radioactive material being very low, the fact it was damaged at all highlights the dangers such facilities in the country face, Grossi said.

"We must avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine," he said Monday during an IAEA board of governors meeting.

"This time, if there is a nuclear accident, the cause will not be a tsunami brought on by mother nature," he said, referring to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by an earthquake-induced tsunami. "Instead, it will be the result of human failure to act when we could, and we knew we should."

Since the start of the Russian invasion late last month, several nuclear facilities have been impacted by the ensuing war.

The IAEA states an electrical transformer at a Kharkiv nuclear disposal facility was damaged during fighting on Feb. 26. The next day, a similar facility in the capital Kyiv was hit by missiles.

Then on Friday, a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after facing Russian artillery fire and came under Russian command on Sunday, making it the second plant to be under the Kremlin's forces control after the Chernobyl facility was taken at the start of the invasion.

The occupation of the two sites has impacted their security with the IAEA saying it has not been able to deliver spare parts or medicine to the Zaporizhzhia facility and that the 210 technical staff and guards working at the Chernobyl plant have not been able to rotate, meaning they have worked straight through.

The IAE said that "having operating staff subject to the authority of the Russian military commander contravenes an indispensable pillar of nuclear safety."

The regulator also said the safety and security of facilities that use dangerous category 1-3 radiation sources in the eastern port city of Mariupol are unknown as it has not been able to communicate with them.

Of Ukraine's 15 nuclear power plants, eight of them were operating, including two at the Zaporizhzhya site.

IAEA says loses contact with Chernobyl nuclear data systems


Tue, 8 March 2022,

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct Chernobyl plant
 (AFP/Sergei SUPINSKY) (Sergei SUPINSKY)

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN's atomic watchdog, the agency said Tuesday, as it voiced concern for staff working under Russian guard at the Ukrainian facility.

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct plant, site of a 1986 disaster that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi "indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl NPP had been lost", the agency said in a statement.

"The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon," it said.

The IAEA uses the term "safeguards" to describe technical measures it applies to nuclear material and activities, with the objective of deterring the spread of nuclear weapons through early detection of the misuse of such material.

More than 200 technical staff and guards remain trapped at the site, working 13 days straight since the Russian takeover.

The situation for the staff "was worsening" at the site, the IAEA said, citing the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.

The defunct plant sits inside an exclusion zone that houses decommissioned reactors as well as radioactive waste facilities.

More than 2,000 staff still work at the plant as it requires constant management to prevent another nuclear disaster.

The UN agency called on Russia to allow workers to rotate because rest and regular shifts were crucial to the site's safety.

"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," said Grossi.

"I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there."

With remote data transmission cut off and the Ukrainian regulator only able to contact the plant by email, Grossi reiterated his offer to travel to the site or elsewhere to secure "the commitment to the safety and security" of Ukraine's power plants from all parties.

Russia also attacked and seized Europe's largest atomic power plant, Zaporizhzhia, last week, drawing accusations of "nuclear terror" from Kyiv.

Zaporizhzhia alone has six reactors of a more modern, safer design than the one that melted down at Chernobyl.

The IAEA said two of those were still operating, the plant's personnel were working in shifts and radiation levels remained stable.

On Wednesday, Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a video of a Russian national guard official in front of the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant saying Moscow's forces were in full control of the site.

"Currently, the plant is operating as normal. The management of the site is fulfilling its functions. The situation is fully controlled by the Russian national guard," the official said.

The official accused Ukraine of storing weapons at the facility.

"A large number of armaments and ammunition, including heavy weapons, were discovered in the reactors of the plants," after it was taken by Russian forces, the official said.

bur-jfx/leg


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