The UN nuclear supervisory body expressed concern after Russian forces said they had surrounded Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant and called on its workers to be left to do their own work.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Russian government had informed the agency that its troops had taken control of the area around the Zaporozhye plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s second-largest, housing six of 15 the reactor in the country.
In a letter to the IAEA, Russian officials insisted that Ukrainian personnel at the plant continued to “work to ensure nuclear safety and monitor radiation in normal operation.”
However, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power plant, Energoatom, has accused the Russian military of “openly terrorizing station employees and residents of its satellite city of Energodar.”
Videos shared on social media by a Ukrainian official show crowds of Ukrainians forming a barrier between Russian forces and the nuclear power plant, blocking their progress.
Interior Ministry official Anton Gerashchenko said in a Facebook post: “Russian generals – change your mind! Do not create conditions for the new Chernobyl! Radiation does not know nationalities, one does not spare anyone! Tour Energodar and Zaporozhye.
Ukraine has asked the IAEA to declare a 30-kilometer safe zone around Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants.
Grossi told the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna: “It is critical that the armed conflict and the activities on the ground around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and any other nuclear facility in Ukraine do not in any way disrupt or threaten the facilities or workers in and around them. “
The IAEA also said that the transmission of radiation data from Zaporozhye was interrupted on Tuesday and that the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate (SNRIU) was trying to find the cause of the interruption and restore the flow of data.
Grossi also expressed concern about the SNRIU report that since Russians took over the Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 disaster in northwestern Ukraine near the Belarusian border, staff there have not been allowed to return.
US Deputy Envoy to the IAEA Luis Bono said: “Ukrainian staff at the site were not allowed to leave and were forced to work several shifts. This additional pressure on staff performing critical tasks further endangers the safety and security of the site and the public. “
In his speech, Grossi said: “The staff who work is extremely important [the Chernobyl plant] are able to do their job safely and efficiently and that their personal well-being is guaranteed by those who have taken control. “
The remains of the reactor core, which exploded in 1986, are buried under concrete on site, and there are also spent fuel storage and a large amount of radioactive dust in the upper soil layer of the area.
The destruction of the soil by Russian military vehicles caused limited radiation spikes. A statement from Energoatom said: “Being now in the exclusion zone and apparently lacking the skills to ensure personal safety when working in radioactively contaminated areas, the invaders are exposed to significant external and internal radiation, which will undoubtedly take the form of cancer. “
On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said Russian missiles had struck the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Kyiv. The day before, an electrical transformer in another waste facility in Kharkiv was damaged. In both cases, there was no radioactive release, but the incidents highlighted the potential threat of an environmental catastrophe from a war in a country with a large-scale nuclear industry.
The American Nuclear Society (ANS), an association of industry professionals, is seeking to send material support to Ukraine to help nuclear workers there.
“Personnel at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants must be able to carry out their duties without interruption from unnecessary pressure or fear of being killed or injured,” the ANS said in a statement. “Ukraine’s nuclear workers need rest between shifts, access to their homes and reassurance that their loved ones are safe.
Society President Stephen Nesbitt said he hoped the Russian invaders were aware of the dangers of a nuclear accident.
“All I can say is that it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t be sensitive to the problems here,” Nesbitt said. “Russia and Vladimir Putin must take all possible steps to avoid becoming even more pariah than they have become.