The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is no longer transmitting data from its “safeguards monitoring system” nearly two weeks after it was taken over by Russian forces in Ukraine, the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog said Tuesday.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi issued a statement on Tuesday on the loss of remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems at the Chernobyl facility. The safeguards monitoring systems verify that nuclear facilities are not misused and nuclear material is not diverted from peaceful uses, according to the IAEA. The watchdog group is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide an update soon, Grossi said.
Grossi also called on Russian forces to rotate out the 210 staff members at the plant who have been held hostage since the Russian military captured the nuclear facility on Feb. 24, during the first hours of its invasion.
“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,” Grossi said in a statement. “I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there.”
US LOOKS TO KEEP UKRAINIAN ‘BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH FACILITIES’ FROM RUSSIAN CONTROL
The Chernobyl facility was the site of a 1986 accident that released radioactive material into the environment. As a result, it sits in an “Exclusion Zone” in which workers rotate in and out to avoid prolonged exposure to radiation.
The Russian military has taken control of two of Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants: Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, which was seized and shelled by Russian forces on March 3.
The IAEA’s statement said eight of the country’s 15 reactors at the four plants were operating, and radiation levels at the sites were normal, according to Ukraine’s nuclear regulator.
Recently, Russia leveled multiple accusations of nuclear malfeasance directed at Ukraine. On Sunday, Russia accused Ukraine of attempting to build a “plutonium-based dirty bomb nuclear weapon” at Chernobyl and, separately, of plotting to blow up a nuclear reactor in Kharkiv and blame it on Russia.
Russia did not provide evidence for either accusation.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also accused Ukraine of attempting to “acquire their own nuclear weapons,” a claim the IAEA denied.
