Preliminary assessment of the radiological consequences of the hostile military occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces on 24 February 2022 put the radiological well-being of the people in Ukraine under unprecedented threat. Apart from the risks linked to operating nuclear power plants, there was substantial evidence of looting of facilities of all kinds, including those holding radioactive materials, as well as the scope for physical disturbance of radioactively contaminated areas and waste storage facilities. The actions of Russian military personnel invading Ukraine through the territory of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (the ChEZ) were of serious concern.

Implementation of graded approach in ensuring safety in management of emergency and legacy radioactive waste in Ukraine.

Ukraine has accumulated large amounts of Chernobyl-origin emergency radioactive waste stored in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and beyond, as well as legacy radioactive waste in the Radon-type facilities and military sites of the former Soviet Union. Management of such radioactive waste requires the application of a graded approach, in particular, ranking of sites with such radioactive waste by the degree of hazard. Based on the results of ranking, a decision is made on one of the three options: urgent removal of radioactive waste from the site, delayed removal of radioactive waste from the site, and absence of necessity to remove radioactive waste from the site.