More than 200 staff at the Chernobyl nuclear facility in northern Ukraine have been trapped and forced to work at gunpoint since Russian troops first seized control of the plant three weeks ago.
Technicians and support staff are approaching 500 hours on the job — “nonstop” work that is punctuated only by short naps on chairs in front of machinery or atop piles of clothes next to their workstations, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the first on conditions inside the complex, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, since it was captured by Russian troops last month.
They are allowed only one-minute calls to family members, during which they have recounted their extreme fatigue, nausea, and dizziness.
“I didn’t recognize his voice,” said the wife of one Chernobyl employee after speaking to her husband last week. “I could tell someone was standing behind him. Very short phrases.”
They are also severely underfed, reportedly living off porridge and canned food prepared by a 70-year-old cook who at one point collapsed from exhaustion.
In the weeks since Chernobyl was seized, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international groups have expressed mounting concern about conditions inside the facility, as well as the need for reliable communication with employees.
On Sunday, the IAEA said it had been informed by Ukraine’s nuclear regulator that staff at Chernobyl had stopped safety repairs and maintenance due to “physical and psychological fatigue after working non-stop for nearly three weeks.”
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Last week, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss a proposed framework that would allow the IAEA to deliver “technical and other assistance” to Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, according to a statement from the agency, though movement on the proposal remains unclear.
“Director General Grossi said the increasingly dire situation facing personnel at the facility – coupled with persistent issues related to communication from the site as well as the now resolved power supply problem – [add] further urgency to an IAEA initiative aimed at ensuring safety and security at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants,” the agency said in a statement.
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“The IAEA stands ready to act immediately, based on our proposed framework that requires agreement from the parties of the conflict before it can be implemented,” Grossi said. “We can only provide assistance to Ukraine’s nuclear sites once it has been signed. I’m doing everything I can to make this happen very soon.”
