UN atomic energy chief to visit Chernobyl

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Russian forces departure from the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant is a step in the right direction and the UN nuclear watchdog plans to be there very, very soon.IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi says he will head a support mission to Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, and that further nuclear safety missions to Ukraine will follow.Grossi spoke Friday after visits to Ukraine and Russia.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Russian forces' departure from the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant is “a step in the right direction” and the UN nuclear watchdog plans to be there “very, very soon”.

IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi says he will head a support mission to Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, and that further nuclear safety missions to Ukraine will follow.

Grossi spoke Friday after visits to Ukraine and Russia. He said Russian nuclear and foreign ministry officials didn't discuss with him why Russian forces left Chernobyl.

Of the overall situation in the area, he said: “The general radiation situation around the plant is quite normal. There was a relatively higher level of localised radiation because of the movement of heavy vehicles at the time of the occupation of the plant, and apparently this might have been the case again on the way out.” Ukraine's state power company said Russian troops received “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the exclusion zone around the plant. But Grossi said “we don't have any confirmation” that soldiers were contaminated.