IAEA to Establish a Working Group For Ukrainian Nuclear Facilities

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will establish a working group to coordinate assistance and support for personnel at Ukrainian nuclear facilities, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.

Grossi, heading the expert mission to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), arrived in Ukraine on April 26.

"IAEA to set up a working group to coordinate assistance and support staff who are working hard to keep Ukraine nuclear sites safe and secure," Grossi wrote on Twitter.

He noted that the experts have already brought the first batch of equipment to conduct radiological assessments and restore safeguards monitoring systems.

Grossi also honoured the memory of the victims of the incident at the Chernobyl NPP 36 years after the tragedy.

In March, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the plants are operating normally, the radiation background remains normal, which is confirmed by the IAEA.

The Chernobyl power plant was destroyed in a meltdown on April 26, 1986. Nearly 3,000 square miles of territory in northern Ukraine and parts of Belarus were depopulated, with 1,000 square miles considered an exclusion zone due to elevated levels of radiation. The Chernobyl disaster is widely considered the worst nuclear accident in history.