Had Been Detained Since The Russian Invasion, The IAEA Says Chernobyl Staff Successfully Evacuated Out

Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Wikimedia Commons/DAVID HOLT)

JAKARTA - The United Nations nuclear watchdog said the remaining members of a technical staff shutdown at the Chernobyl radioactive waste facility, Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24 last, had been released Monday.

For more than three weeks the Ukrainian facility, next to the now-defunct power plant that in 1986 was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, was operated by a shift of staff who happened to be on duty when Russian troops took control. On February 24, everything can't leave until Sunday.

For weeks the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had said the situation, meaning staff on duty were exhausted and working under extreme pressure, posed an increased risk to site safety and asked them to be rotated.

"Ukrainian regulatory authorities say that about half of the technical staff turnover left the scene of the 1986 crash yesterday and the rest follows today, with the exception of thirteen staff members who refused to be rotated," the IAEA said in a statement.

Ukrainian regulators said most of the Ukrainian guards who had also been there since their arrest remained at the scene, the IAEA added. The agency said last week there were 211 technical staff and guards at the site, without elaborating on the number.

The departing technical staff have been replaced by the same Ukrainian co-workers as them, based in the nearby town of Slavutych, the IAEA said, citing Ukrainian regulators.

"The new work shift, including two supervisors, is not the usual one to ensure that there is a backup available on site, the regulator said," the IAEA statement said.

The IAEA added, also citing Ukrainian regulators, that an agreement had been reached on how to regulate staff rotation.