Kyiv [Ukraine], March 6 (ANI): Ukraine has confirmed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that two out of 6 reactors of Zaporizhhzhya NPP are working, and the radiation levels are normal, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in his statement on Saturday. “Ukraine‘s nuclear regulator told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today it had been able to maintain communications with staff at the Zaporizhhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) where two out of six reactors were now operating, a day after Russian forces took control of the site in the country’s south-east,” the statement read. “In regular updates to the IAEA, the Ukrainian regulatory authority and the plant management also confirmed that the technical safety systems were intact and radiation levels remained normal at Ukraine‘s largest nuclear power plant,” the statement added.
According to IAEA, the safety systems of Ukraine‘s three other nuclear power plants were operating and the regulator continued to receive online monitoring data regarding radiation levels at the sites, which were also as usual. Six of their combined total of nine reactors were currently operating, the regulator said. Staff at the Chornobyl NPP – which is under the control of Russian forces since last week – have been on site since February 23 without being able to rotate the shift of technical personnel and guards, the regulator said.
Director-General Grossi has repeatedly stressed the importance of staff operating Ukraine‘s nuclear facilities being allowed to rest and rotate in order to be able to carry out their jobs safely and securely. He has also said that a “tense” situation with Russian forces controlling the Zaporizhhzhya NPP site and Ukrainian staff operating it “certainly cannot last for too long”. The head of the national operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin, informed the Director-General on Friday that the plant was now allowed to change work shifts. (ANI)
