UN watchdog says Chernobyl staff facing moral exhaustion after Russian takeover

A shelter construction covers the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Ukraine has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that staff who have been kept at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant since Russian troops took control of the site a week ago are facing “psychological pressure and moral exhaustion”, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog has said.

IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said that the staff must be allowed to rest and rotate so their crucial work can be carried out safely and securely.