IAEA expresses concern over Chernobyl plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is following the situation in Ukraine with grave concern and is appealing for maximum restraint to avoid any action that may put the country’s nuclear facilities at risk, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said, Report informs, citing the organization's website.

The Director General stressed that the IAEA General Conference – the annual gathering of all the organization’s Member States – adopted a decision in 2009 saying “any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and the Statute of the Agency”.

UNIAN reported earlier that, on February 24, Russian troops entered the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the territory of Belarus. The National Guardsmen, guarding the repository of hazardous radioactive waste, showed fierce resistance. There was a threat of destruction of the storage of nuclear waste. In this case, radioactive dust can cover the territories of Ukraine, Belarus and EU countries.