The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, today returned from Ukraine to the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna and held a press conference, where he briefed journalists on his visit to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), including the results of initial radiation monitoring conducted by IAEA experts in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, and his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Director General today also published a report which provides a summary of the situation in Ukraine regarding safety, security and safeguards of nuclear facilities, and activities involving radioactive sources in Ukraine. It includes actions taken by the IAEA in response to Ukraine’s request for assistance, and some initial findings of the IAEA expert missions to Ukraine led by the Director General.
Today, Ukraine’s regulator formally informed the IAEA that on 16 April 2022 on-site video surveillance recorded the flight of a missile flying directly over the South Ukraine NPP. “The IAEA is looking into this matter, which, if confirmed, would be extremely serious. Had such a missile gone astray, it could have had a severe impact on the physical integrity of the NPP potentially leading to a nuclear accident,” Director General Grossi said.
At the Chornobyl NPP site, the safeguards remote data transmission was interrupted as of 27 February 2022. This week, IAEA inspectors verified nuclear material present, thus re-establishing continuity of knowledge regarding nuclear material at the site. In addition, IAEA technicians upgraded the unattended monitoring systems installed at the site and deployed new transmission channels based on satellite technologies. Since then, the remote data transmission has been partially re-established; additional work is required by the facility operator. For the other NPPs in Ukraine, remote data is being transferred to IAEA headquarters.
Regarding the country’s 15 operational reactors at four nuclear power plants, Ukraine said seven are currently connected to the grid, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP, two at the Rivne NPP, two at the South Ukraine NPP, and one at the Khmelnytskyy NPP. The eight other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance or held in reserve. Safety systems remain operational at the four NPPs, and they also continue to have off-site power available, Ukraine said.