The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, was at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) today to meet senior Ukrainian government officials as well as staff, and to start the IAEA’s technical assistance for the safety and security of the country’s nuclear facilities.
The Director General held detailed discussions with Energy Minister German Galushchenko, head of the nuclear regulatory body Oleg Korikov, head of the operating company Energoatom, Petro Kotin, and the NPP Director Igor Polovych. They reviewed the concrete steps that need to be taken to immediately deliver that urgent assistance to Ukraine.
“It is vital to be on the ground in order to provide effective support to Ukraine in these extremely difficult times,” Director General Grossi said. “The IAEA’s on-site presence, where needed, will help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident that could have severe public health and environmental consequences in Ukraine and beyond,” he added. See yesterday’s statement here for more details.
In today’s regular update regarding the nuclear safety and security situation, Ukraine said there had been no staff rotation at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) since 20-21 March. The site has been under the control of Russian forces since 24 February.
Out of the country’s 15 operational reactors at four sites, the regulator said nine were operating, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP, four at Rivne (Unit 1 has been connected to the grid), one at Khmelnytskyy, and two at South Ukraine. The other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance, it added.
In relation to safeguards, the Agency said that the situation remained unchanged from that reported previously. The Agency was still not receiving remote data transmission from its monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl NPP, but such data was being transferred to IAEA headquarters from the other NPPs in Ukraine.