Ukraine has lost contact with Chernobyl nuclear plant
On Thursday, Ukraine reported to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency that the country has lost all contact with the defunct plant in Chernobyl.
The news comes from the IAEA in a statement issued late Thursday evening.
The agency further adds that the primary means of contact was email.
”Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had lost today all communications with the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the day after the Russian-controlled site lost all external power supplies,” the IAEA reports, according to news agency Reuters.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was taken over by Russian forces on Feb. 24 – the same day as the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, hundreds of technicians and security personnel have been trapped in the area. They have been working for two weeks straight, leaving IAEA chief Rafael Grossi worried for their safety.
The IAEA is also worried about radiation leaks.
The power cut at the plant comes with a risk that it won’t be possible to cool down the spent nuclear fuel.
Earlier on Thursday, the IAEA lost communications with yet another nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
The Zaporizhzhia plant stopped sending data to the IAEA from the monitoring equipment.
Grossi arranged separate meetings with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the city of Antalya in Turkey.
”Both sides agree [...] that something needs to be done. They are both ready to work and engage to the IAEA,” says Grossi to news agency AFP.
He adds that over the course of the next few days, concrete options will come on the table.
Chernobyl is located due north of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, close to the border with Belarus.
In 1986, the plant suffered a meltdown after a variety of oversights committed by those responsible for the plant.
This led to a significant radiation leak spreading over a large area, including parts of Sweden.
In the early hours of Friday, Ukrainian authorities reported to The Kyiv Independent that nuclear research facilities in Kharkiv had been bombed by Russian planes.
According to the Ukrainian newspaper, the Kharkiv Institute, which houses an experimental nuclear reactor, was hit by bombs.
Ukraine’s top nuclear authority reports that several laboratories in the building could be destroyed.
There were no reports of casualties from the bomb raid.
Endnu et ukrainsk kraftværk mister forbindelse til atomagentur
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