After a month, contact was re-established between Chernobyl and the Ukrainian nuclear regulator

The International Atomic Energy Agency says that direct telephone communications between the dismantled Chernobyl power plant and the Ukrainian nuclear regulator have been restored.

Ukraine informed the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog on 10 March that it had lost direct contact with the plant, the site of the 1986 disaster. Russian forces seized Chernobyl at the beginning of the invasion on 24 February and withdrew on 31 March.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Tuesday that “this was clearly not a sustainable situation, and it is very good news that the regulator can now contact the plant directly when needed.”

Grossi plans to lead an IAEA expert mission to Chernobyl to conduct radiological and nuclear safety assessments, deliver equipment and repair the agency's own remote monitoring systems there.

Less than a week ago, the situation in Chernobyl was different. The Ukrainian authorities were unable to restore the means of surveillance of radioactivity.

“The system for monitoring the level of radioactivity in the prohibited zone is still not working,” said Evguen Kramarenko, head of the state agency responsible for the prohibited zone of the plant.

“The servers that handle this information disappeared (...) we cannot say whether (the area) is completely safe,” he added during a videoconference followed by the AFP agency.

“Until electricity is restored and employees do not have authorization from the armed forces to access the radioactivity checkpoints, we cannot assess the damage suffered,” he said.

Kramarenko further assured that “the Russian occupiers had dug in multiple places” in Chernobyl, where the nuclear accident took place in April 1986.

“They buried heavy equipment, created trenches and even set up underground kitchens, tents and fortifications,” he said. “One of these fortifications is located near a place for the temporary disposal of radioactive waste,” he warned.

“The system for monitoring the level of radioactivity in the prohibited zone is still not working,” said Evguen Kramarenko, head of the state agency responsible for the prohibited zone in Chernobyl.

The Russian army had seized the nuclear power plant on the first day of Moscow's offensive against Ukraine, on February 24.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, he withdrew at the end of March. Russian soldiers “very soon” will feel the effects of radiation, Kramarenko warned. “Some within a month, others within years,” he said.

Theft report

The Ukrainian authorities have denounced that Russian forces have taken radioactive material “as a souvenir” and joked that the Russian military nominated the Darwin Awards, which reward those who cause their own deaths with stupid acts.

“The (Russian) occupants stole and damaged 133 objects with a total activity of about 7 million becquerels, comparable to 700 kilograms of radioactive waste with beta and gamma radiation. Even a small part of it is deadly if handled unprofessionally,” the Ukrainian State Agency for the Management of Exclusion Zones warned in a statement.

This radioactive material was taken from laboratories in the city of Chernobyl that investigated the risk of radiation exposure and options for handling radioactive materials for subsequent decision-making about work in different areas of the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

“If you have taken such a memory with you, in two weeks it is guaranteed that radiation burns will occur and begin to suffer the effects of radiation and irreversible processes in the body,” warned the Ukrainian body.

(With information from AP)

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