Russia destroys Chernobyl radiation monitoring lab, says Ukraine

Russian forces have looted and destroyed a laboratory near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was used to monitor radioactive waste, the Ukrainian government said Wednesday.

The site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster fell into Russian hands in the first week of Russia’s invasion, triggering fears that safety standards inside the exclusion zone could be compromised.

A satellite image of the power plant on March 10.

According to a Ukrainian government agency, the laboratory was part of a European Union-funded attempt to improve radioactive waste management – through on-site analysis of waste samples, as well as the packaging used to dispose of waste.

The government agency also reported that samples of radionuclides – unstable atoms that can emit high levels of radiation – had been removed from the lab. It said it hoped Russia would use the samples to “harm itself, and not the civilized world.”

It is the latest scare at the infamous site in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus. On Tuesday, Ukraine’s government warned of several fires close to the plant, which it said had probably been triggered by Russian artillery or arson.

A reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, releasing large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.

The disaster forced the evacuation of a 30-kilometer zone around the site. More than 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

A worker measures radiation levels at the power plant.

People are scanned for radioactivity before evacuating.

Customs officials in Germany closely screen goods, cars and people coming in from Eastern Europe in May 1986. Radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear plant threatened to contaminate crops.

In Finland, milk is tested by authorities for effects of the radiation.

A farmer in Sweden wears a protective suit as he sifts hay possibly contaminated by the radioactive cloud from Chernobyl in June 1986.

Construction crews build a containment wall around the damaged unit four reactor in August 1986.

A doll remains in an evacuated village in Belarus near Chernobyl. Millions of people were exposed to dangerous radiation levels, and estimates of the final death toll from long-term health problems are as high as 200,000.

In pictures: The Chernobyl disaster

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And staff working at the plant on the day it was captured only recently had the chance to go home, three weeks after they were due to rotate with an incoming team.

Local mayor Yuriy Fomichev spoke to CNN after the workers had been confined to the plant for 10 days, describing them then as, “exhausted, both mentally and emotionally, but mainly physically.”

Fomichev said that more than 100 people were shift personnel who should have been relieved after 12 hours.

PRIPYAT, UKRAINE - JULY 2: Tourists are guided around the abandoned city of Pripyat, inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, on July 2, 2019 in Pripyat, Ukraine. In November 2016, the 'New Safe Confinement' structure was shifted into place to prevent the decaying reactor from further contaminating the environment and eventually allow its dismantling; the Ukrainian government will soon be taking control of the new confinement structure. The power station's reactor number four exploded in April 1986, showering radiation over the local area, nearby regions of Belarus, and other portions of Europe. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Related article Russian forces seize control of Chernobyl nuclear plant and hold staff hostage: Ukrainian officials

Some 13 staff members and most of the guards declined to rotate, said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in a statement published Monday.

Earlier this month, the site was forced to get power from emergency diesel generators for several days, before being reconnected to the national electricity grid after repairs to damaged lines.

More than 30 people died in the immediate aftermath of the April 26, 1986 explosion that tore through Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor near Pripyat.

In the years that followed, countless others died from radiation symptoms, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization. The Ukraine government evacuated some 135,000 people from the area and a 19-mile exclusion zone around the plant will remain uninhabitable for decades.

In the months after the accident, a sarcophagus was built to cover Reactor 4 and contain the radioactive material. This later deteriorated, resulting in radiation leaks.

In 2016, a structure known as the New Safe Confinement was positioned over the sarcophagus. The huge, arched design is intended to prevent the release of contaminated material, as well as protect the sarcophagus from external impacts, such as tornadoes or extreme thunderstorms.