Shelling has destroyed a new nuclear research facility in Kharkiv, The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

            Vienna, March 8 – Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated that shelling had damaged a modern nuclear research facility in Ukraine’s Kharkiv city that produces radioisotopes for medicinal and industrial uses.

Grossi stated on Monday, citing Ukraine’s national nuclear authority, that the event that occurred a day earlier did not result in an increase in radiation levels at the facility.

“Because the nuclear material in the facility is always subcritical and the inventory of radioactive material is very low, the IAEA’s assessment confirmed that the damage reported to it would not have had any radiological consequence”, said Director General in a statement posted on the regulator’s website.

“We must act to assist prevent a nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine, which may have serious ramifications for human health and the environment”. This occurred just one day after an electrical transformer at a similar dumping plant near Kharkiv was destroyed. “I have stated that I am willing to fly to Chernobyl, but it may be anywhere as long as it enables this required and urgent action”, he said earlier on Monday when speaking to the IAEA Board of Governors. On February 27, Ukraine reported that Russian missiles had struck a nuclear waste disposal plant near Kiev, but that no radioactive material had been released.