The level of radioactivity at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant is abnormal, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday during a visit to the decommissioned facility, which occurred exactly 36 years ago. According to Grossi, the occupation of the power plant by the Russian army for more than a month was really dangerous.
“The situation was absolutely abnormal and very, very dangerous,” Grossi said of the occupation of the facility by Russian troops. He was accompanied to the power plant by a team of experts. They have brought the necessary equipment to the site, such as dosimeters and protective suits, and are preparing to carry out “radiological and other inspections,” the IAEA said.
It will also repair remote monitoring systems that transmit data from the power plant to the agency’s Vienna headquarters. The transmission was interrupted shortly after the start of the war.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located just over 100 kilometers north of Kiev and near the Belarusian border, fell into the hands of Russian troops on the first day of the invasion, February 24.
Moscow troops withdrew from there on March 31. The situation has gradually returned to normal since then, the AFP agency wrote, referring to the IAEA daily report, based on information from Ukrainian regulatory authorities.
Grossi visited Ukraine and its nuclear facilities at the end of March, when he promised the assisted country technical assistance.
Dana Drábová, the chairwoman of the State Office for Nuclear Safety, assured on Twitter this morning that the situation was normal. “The radiation situation in Ukraine remains normal,” she wrote, as she has every day recently.
