The Sevastopol National University of Nuclear Energy and Industry with its nuclear reactor was seized by Russian occupation troops using brutal force, according to an e-mail report from Andriy Martynyuk, board chair of Ecoclub in Rivne, Ukraine, which is part of the NIRS-WISE international network.
Ukraine has acted to bring in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to protect the facility, which is located on the territory of Crimea, says acting deputy head of the presidential administration Andriy Senchenko.
The Crimea facility is an institution of training for the nuclear industry, and there is a research nuclear reactor in operation there, which is registered in Ukraine and was guarded by a special unit of the Interior Troops. Using brutal power this property was seized. Senchenko called it “a global scale emergency event” on the program “Freedom of Speech” on Ukraine’s ICTV channel on Monday evening.
Senchenko added that the Ukrainian authorities have to involve the IAEA inspectors “and put the question to take under IAEA protection this object, because Ukraine is responsible for it, but cannot do it (effectively) in the occupied territory.”
The University consists a number of research laboratories, among which are an educational and scientific center, including a research reactor IR-100.
An article in Ukrainian on the seizure is available here.
Michael Mariotte
April 8, 2014
Permalink: https://www.nirs.org/2014/04/08/russia-seizes-ukrainian-reactor/
You can now support GreenWorld with your tax-deductible contribution on our new donation page here. We gratefully appreciate every donation of any size–your support is what makes our work possible.
Comments are welcome on all GreenWorld posts! Say your piece above. Start a discussion. Don’t be shy; this blog is for you.
If you like GreenWorld, you can help us reach more people. Just use the icons below to “like” our posts and to share them on the various social networking sites you use. And if you don’t like GreenWorld, please let us know that too. Send an e-mail with your comments/complaints/compliments to nirs@nirs.org. Thank you!
Note: If you’d like to receive GreenWorld via e-mail daily, send your name and e-mail address to nirs@nirs.org and we’ll send you an invitation. Note that the invitation will come from a GreenWorld@wordpress.com address and not a nirs.org address, so watch for it.