Atomic Energy Agency: Incident extremely worrying!Russian attack hits Chernobyl spent fuel facility

According to Ukrainian information, a Russian drone attack hit a building in the central storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the zone around the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The state-owned company Energoatom said the building for receiving containers was partially destroyed in the attack that night. No spent nuclear fuel was stored there. The radiation levels were within the established limits, it was said.

A fire spread over an area of ​​40 square meters; The company said it had been deleted. Spent fuel from other Ukrainian nuclear power plants is stored for the long term in the central warehouse in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was damaged 40 years ago.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been informed by the Ukrainian side of the “significant damage” to the building. The facade, windows and doors are affected. Neighboring buildings were also affected by the pressure wave. An IAEA team will visit the facility shortly to assess the impacts, the agency said.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told Attacks on nuclear facilities are completely unacceptable and directly violate core principles of nuclear security during a military conflict, Grossi said.

In the course of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been going on for more than four years, there have been several incidents, including at nuclear power plants. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the south is particularly affected by the fighting.

On April 26, 1986, a test at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the then Soviet Republic of Ukraine got out of control and the largest possible accident (GAU) occurred. Attenuated radioactive clouds spread to northern and western Europe. (dpa/sfu)

Source used: dpa