For the first time since the Russian invasion on February 24, personnel from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have been relieved. About half of the staff present were able to go home after working at the site for nearly four weeks, the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA said. The nuclear power plant is under Russian control.
“Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that about half of the staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant could finally be relieved and return home,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA general manager. press release that the agency published in the night from Sunday to Monday.
According to the Ukrainian nuclear regulator, the rotation started in the morning and the personnel who were able to leave Chernobyl have been relieved by other Ukrainian personnel.
Peace
Grossi applauds that partial rotation. The personnel had to carry out their work “under immensely stressful and exhausting conditions, in the presence of foreign soldiers and without proper rest”.
Russian forces have been in control of the plant since February 24. A hundred Ukrainian technicians who had just completed a night shift continued to work at the site where radioactive elements still need to be cooled. The day shift could not relieve them, the French news agency AFP learned.
nuclear disaster
In 1986 reactor number 4 of the nuclear power plant exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster ever.
The IAEA also says it still has not received data from the Chernobyl observation systems. The other Ukrainian nuclear power plants do transmit such data.
The agency had proposed to intervene on the spot to ensure the safety of the nuclear installations. The agency will also continue to hold consultations with that aim.
Read all about the conflict in Ukraine in our file.
Hard images show the result of heavy bombing of the Kiev shopping center: at least six dead
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.