International Nuclear Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi has described the radiation levels at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as normal after it was occupied by Russian troops, AFP reported.
“The level of radiation, I would say, is normal … There were certain moments when the level increased due to the movement of heavy equipment that Russian troops brought here, and when they left the station,” Grossi was quoted by AFP during his visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26.
The agency, which previously indicated that the IAEA Director General called the level of radiation abnormal, subsequently corrected his words on his Twitter.
As reported, Grossi visits the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the anniversary of the accident on April 26. He led the agency’s mission to the station to deliver various types of radiation monitoring equipment, including radionuclide identification devices and gamma dose rate meters, to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as conduct radiological and other assessments. In addition, IAEA experts plan to repair the systems for remote monitoring of safeguards that stopped transmitting data to the agency’s headquarters in Vienna immediately after the station was seized by Russian invaders.
As noted by the IAEA, since the withdrawal of the Russian military from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine has taken significant steps to operate it safely, but the overall situation in the exclusion zone remains difficult, in part due to damaged bridges and demining activities.
The IAEA also noted that, in close coordination with Ukraine, it developed detailed plans for providing assistance in the security of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Russian troops left the Chernobyl zone on March 31 after a five-week stay in it since the capture at the beginning of the war on February 24. During their stay in the zone, the Russian military, in particular, built fortifications over a large area, including in the Red Forest, the dirtiest point in the zone. According to the head of GAZO Yevgeny Kramarenko, the risk of serious infection of the military and equipment from such actions is high. At the same time, according to him, during the retreat from Kyiv, Russian troops withdrew about 10,000 pieces of heavy equipment through Chernobyl, which, like the military, could also be contaminated with radiation when moving through dangerous territory. The movement of a large amount of military equipment provoked the rise of radiation dust and an increase in radiation in the zone.
According to the head of NAEK Energoatom Petr Kotin, in some places the radiation level was exceeded 50 times.
