The loss of power at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine does not have any critical impact on safety, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Heat load of spent fuel storage pool and volume of cooling water at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply,” the IAEA said in a statement.
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Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom warned that radioactive substances could be released from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant because it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after its power connection was severed.
Energoatom added in a statement that without power, ventilation systems at the plant would also not be working, exposing staff to dangerous doses of radiation.
The still-radioactive site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster lies some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Kyiv.
Its fourth reactor exploded in April 1986 during a botched safety test, sending clouds of radiation billowing across much of Europe.
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