Recent shelling in Ukraine damages Kharkiv's nuclear research facility: IAEA
Jun 27, 2022
Vienna [Austria], June 27 : The recent shelling in Ukraine on June 25 caused damage to a nuclear research facility in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday.
Director-General of IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi said, "In the latest shelling, Ukraine told the IAEA that the facility's infrastructure, including the cooling system and the diesel generator building, had been damaged. However, the diesel generator remained available if needed."
He added that the radiation levels at the site remained normal, as measured by the dosimeter on the same day.
"Based on the nature of the installation and these measurements, the IAEA assessed that there was no significant implication for its safety," Grossi said.
DG Grossi expressed concern about the potential severe risks for nuclear facilities where such missiles go astray as he said that Ukraine informed the IAEA on Sunday that the flight path of a missile had again passed over the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the latest such incident during the conflict.
The facility is designed to conduct research - in areas such as nuclear physics, radiation materials science, biology and chemistry - and radioisotope production for medical applications.
Its nuclear assembly is subcritical, and the radioactive inventory is low. Before the conflict, the facility was under commissioning, but it is not currently operating.
The facility has been hit previously during the conflict and it lost its external power supply in March.
Notably, the Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent entities.
