IAEA to send monitoring missions to Ukraine's nuclear plants

KYIV -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will send monitoring missions to nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Tuesday, citing a senior official.

"In the near future, these missions will be deployed at all NPPs," Oleg Korikov, acting chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, was cited as saying.

The main purpose of the missions is to monitor the state of nuclear and radiation safety at the nuclear facilities amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Korikov said.

In particular, the IAEA staff will examine the impact of missile strikes against Ukraine on the nuclear plants, he noted.

Currently, there are five nuclear power plants in Ukraine and four of them are functioning. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which witnessed a nuclear disaster on April 26, 1988, was completely shut down on Dec 15, 2000.

In August 2022, the IAEA sent its monitoring mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which has been controlled by Russian forces since March.