Mr Grossi, who spoke to journalists today upon his return from Ukraine, said the remote data transmissions from safeguard monitoring systems at Chernobyl have been restored after being lost on 27 February during the Russian occupation of the site.
He said the connectivity of the systems was “indispensable” for the IAEA and its systems of safeguards control.
Mr Grossi said IAEA experts measured radiation dose levels equivalent to 6.5 millisieverts (mSv) per year in the areas where Russian troops had dug entrenchments during the five-week occupation of the plant site. The doses measured were more than three times lower than the yearly mSv limit for nuclear plant site workers (about 20 mSv), Mr Grossi said, when giving comparison figures.
He said as a conclusion that there has been an increase of radiation levels in those areas of the exclusion zone, but the situation is “not one that could be judged as posing any danger for the environment or the people taking those measurements.”
Asked about the dosage potentially received by Russian soldiers stationed in the area during the occupation period, he said the agency has no concrete information on that and only implications can be made from the measurements recorded during the recent visit.
According to Mr Grossi, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine continues to be a concern for the IAEA as it is still under Russian control and beyond the oversight of the Ukrainian national regulator.
He said the agency needs to conduct inspections at the site related to its safeguards obligations and the safety and security of the plant, which has been under Russian control since 4 March. Zaporizhzhia was taken by Russian troops after an armed assault which led to damage on some of the non-nuclear facilities onsite.
Mr Grossi said that he will be meeting Russian officials in a few days to discuss the situation at Ukraine’s nuclear power stations and reiterated that the physical integrity of nuclear facilities “is an absolute must.”
Earlier this week, Mr Grossi told the Associated Press that the IAEA needs access to Zaporizhzhia so its inspectors can reestablish connections with the agency headquarters – a matter in which both Russia and Ukraine need to help.
He said that he continues to press Russia to grant the IAEA access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, but had not seen “movement in that direction” at the time. He also said Ukraine’s “understandably” reluctant to see IAEA inspectors visiting its own nuclear plant while it is under the occupation by the forces of a third country.
Latest data shows that seven of Ukraine’s 15 operational reactors at four nuclear power stations are connected to the grid. The units in operation are two at Zaporizhzhia, two at Rovno, two at South Ukraine and one at Khmelnitski. The eight other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance or held in reserve.
Safety systems remain operational at the country’s four stations and they continue to have offsite power available.
