Nuclear Security & WMD

U.N. atomic watchdog to secure all of Ukraine's nuclear plants

IAEA's director general and Ukraine’s prime minister announced the agreement for the U.N. atomic watchdog agency to establish a continuous presence of nuclear safety and security experts at all Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

, and John Heilprin

December 13, 2022 . 7:56 PM

2 min read

Ukraine's Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (AN/Michael Getreu/Unsplash)

The head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukraine's prime minister have agreed to a plan for continuous monitoring of Ukraine's four nuclear power plants and the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

IAEA's Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the agreement for the U.N. atomic watchdog agency to establish a continuous presence of nuclear safety and security experts at all of the country’s nuclear power plants, which have 16 nuclear reactors between them.

"IAEA will send permanent technical missions to all nuclear power plants in Ukraine," said Shmyhal, adding there also were discussions about the demilitarization of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. "It is necessary to stop Russia's illegal actions at the Ukrainian power plant."

Grossi said the agreement that emerged from a two-hour meeting in Paris that ended early on Tuesday morning with calls for stepped-up efforts to help prevent a nuclear accident during the current armed conflict.