The level of radioactivity in Chernobyl is “abnormal”, says the head of the IAEA during a visit to the nuclear power plant

The level of radioactivity at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine it is “abnormal” and rose after Russian troops occupied the area, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday.

“The level of radioactivity, I would say it is abnormal,” said the head of the agency, the Argentine Raphael Grossiduring a visit to the plant.

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“There were times when the levels went up due to the movement of heavy equipment that the Russian forces brought here and when they left. We have been monitoring daily.” he added.

Upon arrival at the sarcophagus covering the radioactive remains of the nuclear reactor, he said the occupation by Russian forces had been “absolutely abnormal and very, very dangerous.”

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). / JOE KLAMAR / AFP.

The Russian army had seized the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl on the first day of Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine, on February 24, taking Ukrainian soldiers prisoner and detaining civilian personnel.

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According to the Ukrainian authorities, the Russians withdrew on March 31, Chernobyl.

Grossi He arrived accompanied by a group of experts “to deliver vital equipment” (dosimeters, protective suits) and carry out “radiological and other controls,” according to the IAEA.

These experts must “repair the remote surveillance systems, which stopped transmitting the data to the headquarters” of the IAEA in Vienna (Austria) shortly after the start of the war.

Located 150 km north of kyiv, on the Belarusian border, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered, from the beginning of the Russian occupation, power cuts and communication networks.

Grossi had already traveled to Ukraine at the end of March to lay the groundwork for an agreement to provide technical assistance. He visited the southern plant before meeting top Russian officials in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.

Ukraine has 15 reactors in four active plants, in addition to waste deposits such as the one in Chernobyl. The largest is the plant located in Energodar, near the city of Zaporizhia, which, according to the Ukrainians, was hit by two Russian missile attacks on Tuesday.

A reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded in 1986, causing the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history.

Source: Elcomercio