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Update 78 - IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine (31 May 2022)

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Ukraine
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An expert mission sent by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is this week carrying out nuclear safety, security and safeguards activities at Ukraine’s Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.

The mission – the IAEA’s second to the Chornobyl NPP in the past six weeks – is part of efforts to help ensure nuclear safety and security in the country during the current military conflict. Ukraine, which also has four operating NPPs with a total of 15 reactors, has requested the IAEA’s technical assistance in this regard.

During their three-day stay at the Chornobyl NPP and the Exclusion Zone around the facility, the team of IAEA specialists will provide support on radiation protection, safety of waste management and nuclear security, Director General Grossi said. They will also conduct verification activities at the site, where various radioactive waste management facilities are located following the 1986 accident, he added.

One of the team’s priorities is to provide technical advice on re-establishing the automated radiation monitoring system in the Chornobyl NPP’s Exclusion Zone, which was interrupted early in the conflict and has not been providing such monitoring data since 24 February. The experts will also assess the status of the facilities at the site and provide training on radiation monitoring equipment delivered by the IAEA in April.

In addition, IAEA inspectors and technicians will verify declared nuclear material and activities and confirm the functioning of remote safeguards data transmission from the Chornobyl NPP to IAEA headquarters which was re-established last month.

Director General Grossi personally led two previous safety, security and safeguards missions to Ukraine, travelling to the South Ukraine NPP in late March and to Chornobyl about a month later. The current mission consists of a team of seven IAEA experts.

The Director General is now also continuing his efforts to organize an IAEA mission to Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP, to carry out important nuclear safety, security and safeguards activities at this site in the country’s south.

Ukraine separately informed the IAEA today that there had been no significant developments related to nuclear safety and security in the country over the past 24 hours.

Regarding the country’s operational reactors, Ukraine said eight are currently connected to the grid, including two at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, three at the Rivne NPP, two at the South Ukraine NPP, and one at the Khmelnytskyy NPP. The seven 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.

In relation to safeguards, IAEA headquarters is continuing to receive remote safeguards data from the Chornobyl NPP as well as from the four operational plants in Ukraine.