Remote transmission of safeguards data from Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power station has been fully re-established – a crucial step for the International Atomic Energy Agency to continue to implement safeguards in the country.

IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that the re-establishment of safeguards data transmission resulted from the deployment of new transmission channels based on satellite technologies and of other technical work conducted by the agency since a visit by safeguards inspectors and technicians to Chernobyl late last month.

This is the first time that remote data from all sites where such systems are in place in Ukraine, including all nuclear power plants and associated spent fuel storage facilities, has been transferred in full to the IAEA headquarters in Vienna since transmission from Chernobyl was interrupted for two months during Russia’s occupation of the site.