IAEA loses remote contact with Chernobyl, heightens safeguard concerns

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Tuesday that it has lost communication with remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems placed at the Chernobyl nuclear power facility in northern Ukraine, which Russian soldiers took over last month.

Also read: Russia proposes Ukraine disposes: Kyiv does not trust Moscow on ceasefire

The Chernobyl plant is now not operational, and radioactive material handling has been halted, according to the IAEA, citing information from Ukraine’s nuclear regulator. The site houses deactivated reactors as well as nuclear waste disposal facilities. The regulatory authority informed the IAEA that it could only contact the plant by e-mail.

“The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon,” the IAEA statement read.

Also read: Boris Johnson promises Zelensky ‘new Marshall plan for Ukraine’ by the West

The agency claimed it has been informed by Ukrainian officials that it is becoming “increasingly urgent” to rotate workers for the “safe management” of the Chernobyl nuclear power station, where 210 people have been working for nearly two weeks straight since Russian forces seized control.

Staff have been practically living at the site of the world’s biggest nuclear disaster for the past 13 days, and while they have “limited extent” to food, water, and medicine, their position is “worsening,” according to Ukraine’s nuclear regulator.

Also read: Standing ovation for Ukraine’s Zelensky after rousing House of Commons speech

“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in the statement.  

According to Ukraine’s nuclear authority, eight of the country’s 15 nuclear reactors are currently operational, and radiation levels appear to be normal. Staff at operating installations, including Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya, which is now also under Russian administration, have been permitted to swap shifts.