Tag: Chernobyl

Russians leave Chernobyl with Ukrainian troops as hostages: Kyiv

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian troops on Tuesday vacated Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant after weeks of occupation, but took an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen with them, officials in Kyiv said on Thursday. “As they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Russian occupiers took members of the National Guard, whom they had held hostage since Feb 24, with them,” the state nuclear agency Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram, […]

UN atomic watchdog alarm over shelling of Chernobyl staff town

VIENNA, Austria (AFP) – The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed “concern” on Thursday after Ukraine warned of bombardment by Russia of the town where staff working at the Chernobyl nuclear site live. “Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that Russian forces were shelling Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych where many people working at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant live, putting them at risk,” the Vienna-based UN agency said in […]

Power restored at Ukraine’s Chernobyl: IAEA

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Power has been restored at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power station, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, the International Atomic Energy Agency said late Monday. Separately, Ukraine’s state nuclear operator Energoatom accused the Russian military of detonating ammunition at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in the country’s south. “Ukraine has informed IAEA that external power had again today been restored to the (Chernobyl) Nuclear Power Plant after line […]

Russian forces seize Ukraine nuclear plant

  KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian forces seized control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on Friday after a battle with Ukrainian troops that caused a fire and fears of a catastrophic accident. The Ukrainian nuclear regulator said that the fire had been extinguished and no radiation leak had been detected, with site staff still able to work at the Zaporizhzhia site. “The Zaporizhzhia NPP site has been seized by the military forces of the […]

Belarus launches nuclear plant despite Baltic outcry

MINSK, Belarus (AFP) — Belarus on Tuesday launched its controversial Russia-built nuclear power station despite safety concerns from neighbouring Baltic states three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A string of incidents during construction of the nuclear power station has raised questions over its safety among EU countries, particularly neighbouring Lithuania. The launch comes as Belarus strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko faces historic protests over his claim to victory in August presidential polls which Western leaders […]

Forest fire blazes near Ukraine front line, killing 9

KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — At least nine people have died and 14 others have been injured in forest fires in eastern Ukraine near the front line of Kiev’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists, the emergency services said Thursday. Ukraine has sent 1,200 firefighters to battle the blaze which officials in one village near the frontline said was detonating unexploded shells previously fired over by pro-Russian separatists. Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire […]

Kiev huge forest fire ‘no threat’ to Chernobyl nuclear zone

by Olga SHYLENKO Agence France Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters on Monday battled a forest blaze in Ukraine’s Chernobyl exclusion zone while officials insisted there was no risk to the ruined reactor and nearby storage facilities for nuclear waste. “There is no threat to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the storage facilities,” Volodymyr Demchuk, a senior official from Ukraine’s emergency service, said in a video statement late Monday. The fire broke […]

Protesters break into Finnish-Russian nuclear site

  Anti-nuclear protesters on Tuesday (April 26) broke into a construction site for a nuclear reactor to be supplied by Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom, choosing the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster for their demonstration. Police estimated that close to 50 protesters gathered near the Fennovoima site in northern Finland and around 40 were detained. One group broke into the site while others lay down on the road leading to the site’s entrance, police […]