Russia must be removed from global nuclear markets after occupying nuclear facilities – Chornobyl NPP chief

Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Director General Serhiy Tarakanov said Russia should be removed from global nuclear markets because it has violated the principle that nuclear facilities must not be occupied.

"In February 2022, Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant became the first nuclear facility in world history to be seized by military force. This happened literally in the first hours of the invasion... Why is this important in the security context? Because it was at that moment that the fundamental principles that nuclear facilities must not be occupied were violated," Tarakanov said at the 18th annual Kyiv Security Forum, titled "Darkness or Dawn: Is There Light Ahead?" He added that Chornobyl had become a testing ground for the aggressor before the seizure of Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar.

Interfax-Ukraine's correspondent said Chornobyl NPP chief stressed that existing international control mechanisms were not fulfilling their main function, which showed a lack of protection against nuclear terrorism and a "deep crisis of the peaceful atom concept."

"It is necessary to review the legislation, and the aggressor must be removed from global nuclear markets... If we do not create effective safeguards, this industry may simply stop developing, because we will be afraid of catastrophe," Tarakanov said.

Kyiv Security Forum is an annual international event launched in 2007 on the initiative of Arseniy Yatsenyuk's Open Ukraine Foundation. This year it is being held on April 23 and 24.