Ukraine says Russian forces have withdrawn from Chernobyl

Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy company, Energoatom, said in a statment Telegram said that all technological equipment at the plant and radiation monitoring systems were “working normally” on Friday.

Chernobyl plant, pioneer scene disaster 1986It was among the first strategic facilities captured by Russian forces at the start of their war on Ukraine in February. triggered his arrest international alert It raised fears of a nuclear accident.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who visited a different nuclear plant in Ukraine earlier this week and traveled to Russia on Friday for talks with senior officials, described news of the Russian withdrawal from Chernobyl as “without a doubt a step in the right direction.”

“We said the plant needed to be run by its operators…under normal circumstances, which of course didn’t exist when you had foreign forces,” Grossi said.

He said at a news conference Friday that the agency would send a mission “soon” to Chernobyl, where he said radiation levels were “absolutely normal.” He said agency staff would need safe ways to move around the conflict zone. He added that the IAEA also plans to set up a “rapid assistance mechanism,” which in the event of an emergency at a nuclear facility could send a rapid assessment and assistance team.

Large amounts of radioactive material contaminated the ground around the Chernobyl nuclear site After the 1986 disaster. Today, an “exclusion zone,” where radioactive contamination is highest, covers about 1,000 square miles around the site.

International Atomic Energy Agency He said Ukrainian officials told her Thursday that Russian forces had “in writing transferred control” of the Chernobyl nuclear plant to Ukrainian staff.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also said it was unable to confirm reports that Russian forces had received “high doses of radiation” while in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The agency said it was “seeking more information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation.” Grossi told reporters on Friday that the agency was aware of the allegations but had no confirmation.

Russian forces were withdrawing towards the Ukrainian border with Belarus after announcing plans to leave the Energoatom plant He said In a statement Thursday. Energoatom added that Russian forces appeared to be withdrawing from the satellite city of Slavutich, where many Chernobyl employees live. Claims cannot be independently verified.

The Chernobyl area, one of the most radioactively polluted places in the world, has remained closed since 1986, although a few people still live in the area – mostly elderly Ukrainians who refused to evacuate or returned after the area was evacuated.

The building containing the explosive reactor from 1986 was covered in 2017 with a massive shield intended to contain the radiation still emitted from the plant. Robots inside the factory work to dismantle the destroyed reactor and collect radioactive waste. It is expected that it will take up to 2064 to complete dismantling the reactors safely.

Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.