IAEA Mission Starts Work At Chernobyl NPP - Grossi

Muhammad Irfan Published January 18, 2023 | 11:20 PM

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi on Wednesday announced the beginning of the agency's permanent mission at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) to ensure nuclear safety and security

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2023) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi on Wednesday announced the beginning of the agency's permanent mission at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) to ensure nuclear safety and security.

"@IAEAorg continues to expand its presence in #Ukraine. Today, I launched the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission in Chornobyl (#ISAMICH). Our experts will stay at all Ukrainian NPPs to provide vital nuclear safety & security assistance in these extremely difficult and challenging times," Grossi said on Twitter.

The IAEA director general also noted that most of the activities at the NPP have been restored.

Earlier this week, the IAEA missions started work at the Rivne NPP and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant. On Tuesday, Grossi said that the IAEA would soon be permanently present at all Ukrainian NPPs.

The Chernobyl NPP found itself in the midst of events that could have resulted in a new radiation disaster on a scale greater than the 1986 incident and Fukushima nuclear disaster.

A day after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, its airborne forces took control over the Chernobyl NPP. Russian troops and Ukrainian soldiers within the NPP guard battalion later reached an agreement to jointly secure the power units and sarcophagus of the NPP to ensure that no nuclear provocation would take place. In April, Grossi said that Russia had confirmed the withdrawal of its forces from the NPP.

In November, Grossi said that Chernobyl NPP had lost contact with external power grids and was using emergency generators amid mutual shelling between Russia and Ukraine.

In December, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Grossi agreed to deploy IAEA teams on a continual basis to several Ukrainian nuclear facilities, including the Chernobyl site, to provide technical support and assistance as needed to help maintain a high level of nuclear safety and security.