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Image source, Getty Images
Plant workers announced Thursday that Russian troops had occupied the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
According to Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear company, there are currently no “outsiders” at the site, plant workers said.
Earlier, he said, some Russian troops had left the Belarusian border and left a small contingent.
The announcement confirms reports of the eviction released Wednesday by senior U.S. defense officials.
At the beginning of the Ukrainian invasion, Russian troops captured Chernobyl.
“This morning, the invaders announced the abandonment of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” Enercott said in a statement.
The company confirmed reports that Russian troops had dug trenches in the most polluted part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and had received “significant levels” of radiation. There are unconfirmed reports that some are receiving treatment in Belarus.
Image source, Getty Images
Rafael Crozi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expects to send a commission to the plant in the coming days.
Reuters quoted factory workers as saying that some players were unaware that they were in the radiation zone.
However, after the capture of the plant, the Russian military said the radiation levels at the plant were within normal limits.
A report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could not confirm these reports.
However, its director Rafael Grossi said it was in close consultation with Ukrainian authorities to send a mission to the Chernobyl plant.
Reconsider what happened to the hazardous material
Victoria Gill, Scientific Reporter Analysis De la BBC
Image source, Reuters
Workers at the Chernobyl plant say Russian troops are withdrawing from the area
Although “Chernobyl” was a catastrophic word, nuclear experts throughout the story insisted that “another Chernobyl” was not in danger.
The reactor was not working at the site, as Claire Kargil, a professor at the University of Sheffield, told me at the time of the Russian troops’ takeover, even though buildings with contaminants were being drilled, “we’re not talking about worms. Radiation smoke.”
He was alarmed when Russian forces stormed a building on the Japorizia nuclear power plant on March 4. The incident prompted the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to plan a trip to Ukraine, mainly to ask Russian forces to keep nuclear facilities at bay.
“Now what worries me about Chernobyl,” Professor Kargil told me, “we have no regular contact between the site and the IAEA, which is basically a [registro de seguridad] If any hazardous materials are found. Now we need to go inside and establish that the object is missing. “
Other scientists are concerned about the damage to a site that has become a wildlife sanctuary and an international research collaboration site.
Professor Nick Perezford, who studies the landscape of the exclusion zone, says it is now unknown to his Ukrainian colleagues if there are any laboratories to which they may return. “The area has become a wildlife sanctuary for the last 40 years,” he added.
“Many rare creatures were released when people left. We do not know how this will affect wildlife.”
Image source, Getty Images
Wildlife migration in the vicinity of the reactor is of concern
New Russian strategy
In recent days, Russia has announced that it is reducing its operations around the capital, northern Ukraine, and concentrating its forces in the eastern Donbass region. Chernobyl is located north of Q.
But on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow would reorganize, re-supply and strengthen its offensive in the Donbass rather than retreat.
“At the same time, Russia is putting pressure on kyiv and other cities. Therefore, we can expect additional offensive operations, which will only make it more miserable,” he said.
He added that there was no change in Russia’s goal of seeking a military end.
Since the day of the invasion on February 24 the occupation of the Chernobyl site has been plagued by concerns about power outages and staffing, many of whom have been stranded there for weeks and unable to return home.
Although Chernobyl is no longer a functioning power plant, Chernobyl has not been completely abandoned and still requires sustainable management.
This is the site of the worst nuclear accident in the world in 1986.
The Russian evacuation follows the announcement several days ago by the mayor of Slavotich, a nearby town where factory workers live, that Russian troops had left the city.
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