Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior officials expressed strong support for ongoing bilateral cooperation with the IAEA, during their meetings with Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in Kyiv today. The discussions took place on the margins of events commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear accident.
Today is the first day of Mr Grossi’s official two-day visit to Ukraine, in which he attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition Chornobyl. Journey, alongside President Zelenskyy, at the National Expocenter of Ukraine. “We solemnly remember those who died; we stand with those whose lives have been affected; and we recognize the recovery efforts led by the Governments of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” Mr Grossi stated. “The IAEA, together with other international organizations and nations, has worked tirelessly: offering emergency assistance; analysing the accident’s human and environmental impact; helping to manage the contamination, nuclear waste and wreckage, and restoring livelihoods that depend on the health of farms, forests and water sources in the area. You can count on us also to keep expanding and updating the international channels of collaboration on nuclear safety for the benefit of all.”
On 26 April 1986, the Number Four reactor at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Soviet Union during improper testing at low-power, resulted in loss of control that led to an explosion and fire that demolished the reactor building and released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. As safety measures were ignored, the uranium fuel in the reactor overheated and melted through the protective barriers – leading to the most severe nuclear accident in history.
