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Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that there has not been any rotation of technical staff at the Chernobyl nuclear plant since March 21, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday (Local Time).
In an IAEA statement, Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said, Ukraine also did not know when the next rotation might take place. Ukraine's regulatory authority told the IAEA on Thursday that Russian shelling of checkpoints in the nearby city of Slavutych, where many Chernobyl nuclear power plant staff live, "prevented them from travelling to and from the plant." The current staff who arrived at the plant on March 20-21 replaced the personnel who had been there since Russian forces took control of the site on February 24, the IAEA said. On Friday, Ukraine's State Agency for the Management of the Exclusion Zone "provided additional detailed technical information about the Central Analytical Laboratory in Chernobyl town, which it earlier this week said had been 'looted by marauders." Grossi said he has "in recent weeks expressed deep concern about the difficult situation facing staff operating Ukrainian nuclear facilities where the Russian military is present". He has stressed that "their ability to carry out their important tasks without undue pressure" is critical in order to maintain nuclear safety. (ANI)
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