Staff rotations at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began on Sunday for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced.
“Ukraine has informed the IAEA that around half of the personnel have finally been able to return home after working at the Russian-controlled site for nearly four weeks,” Director General Rafael Grossi said in a released statement. overnight from Sunday to Monday.
“The Ukrainian national regulatory authority has confirmed that those who left have already been replaced by other Ukrainian employees,” he added, “welcoming” this partial rotation.
Russian forces took control of the plant on February 24, but around 100 Ukrainian technicians who were finishing their night shift continued to manage daily operations at the site, where radioactive waste has been since the 1986 accident. the worst in history.
The day team could not relay them, according to relatives interviewed by AFP on condition of anonymity.
Before today’s rotation, the same work team had been at the site since the day before Russian forces entered the area, which the IAEA said “endangered” one of the “pillars” of nuclear security, namely that staff can make decisions “without undue pressure”.
The IAEA still does not receive remote data transmission from its monitoring systems at Chernobyl, but this data is transferred to it from other nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
This UN agency based in Vienna has offered to intervene on the spot to guarantee the safety of nuclear installations in Ukraine and says “to continue consultations” in this direction.