In the context of growing threats and emergence of new challenges for nuclear and radiation safety caused by the full-scale military invasion of russia in our country, Ukraine is interested in integration into the European mechanisms of crisis response to nuclear emergencies, in particular by joining the European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE).
This was stated by Head of SNRIU - Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Ukraine Oleh Korikov during a meeting with Massimo Garribba, Deputy Director General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, which took place last week.
‘In Ukraine, radiation monitoring is carried out by various agencies and business entities. In accordance with the strategy approved by the government, work is underway to create an integrated automated radiation monitoring system that will enable the integration of the results of radiation monitoring into a single system for automated collection, processing, transmission and analysis of data on the radiation situation in Ukraine. Control over the reliability and objectivity of the data of departmental services that carry out radiation monitoring, regardless of their subordination, is assigned to the central executive body that ensures the formation and implementation of the state policy in the field of nuclear energy safety. Therefore, both advisory and technical assistance of the European partners in the process of building a modern integrated radiation monitoring system is important for us - the main tool for detecting radiological threats and organising timely response and protection’, SNRIU Chairman noted during the meeting.
Oleh Korikov also informed the European Commission representative that the russian federation continues to carry out nuclear terror, inflicting new strikes on the Ukrainian nuclear energy infrastructure: switchgears at nuclear power plants, electrical substations of the integrated energy system of Ukraine, which are critical for the safe operation of nuclear facilities.
He stressed the importance of continuing the IAEA monitoring missions to electrical substations, which are important for the safe and stable operation of nuclear power plants, as agreed during the meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on 3 September 2024 in Kyiv and confirmed during high-level meetings in the framework of the Ukrainian delegation's participation in the IAEA Board of Governors meeting last week in Vienna.