Two Ukrainian facilities containing nuclear waste suffered damage amid Russia’s now four-day-old invasion, international monitors reported on Sunday.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a missile struck a radioactive waste disposal site in Kyiv. A similar depot was also damaged in Kharkiv. The extent of damage is still being assessed by inspectors who are still waiting for radiation measurement results from local authorities.
“These two incidents highlight the very real risk that facilities with radioactive material will suffer damage during the conflict, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
“I urgently and strongly appeal to all parties to refrain from any military or other action that could threaten the safety and security of these facilities.”
The IAEA’s board of governors will hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday in Vienna to discuss the current situation in Ukraine, an agency spokesperson said late Sunday in a text message.
Ukraine is Europe’s second-biggest generator of nuclear power after France. Energoatom, the utility which runs its reactors, has continued to operate its four plants housing 15 reactors even as Russia’s military incursion unfolded. Atomic energy generates about half the country’s power.
Russia also captured the territory around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor during its invasion of Ukraine.
