The International Atomic Energy Agency has called for “maximum restraint” to protect nuclear sites in Ukraine, following the news of fighting around Chornobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident.
The global body, which promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy, says it is following the situation in Ukraine with “grave concern”.
The IAEA says it has been informed by its Ukrainian counterpart that while Russian forces have taken control of the former nuclear facility, no casualties or destruction have been reported.
Director general Mariano Grossi says it is of “vital importance” that operations of the nuclear facilities in the Chornobyl exclusion zone “should not be affected or disrupted in any way”.
The plant, located north of Kyiv near the Belarus border, was the site of the most devastating nuclear explosion in history in 1986 when one of its four reactors exploded.
The damaged reactor is now entombed by a steel “confinement structure” and an area of more than 4,000 square kilometres around the facility has been abandoned.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed the loss of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant on Feb. 24.
“After a fierce battle, our control over the Chornobyl Plant was lost. The condition of the former Chornobyl Plant, confinement, and nuclear waste storage facilities is unknown. After a completely senseless Russian attack, it is impossible to say that Chornobyl is safe”, a spokesman of the Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine, Mykhaylo Podolyak, reported.
After the briefing, Shmyhal said that there was no information about the fate of the victims.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that as of now, the Chornobyl zone, the exclusion zone, and all Chornobyl facilities have been taken under control by Russian military groups. There are no casualties, according to Chornobyl’s management,” he added.
