New nuke research facility in Khakiv damaged by shelling: IAEA chief

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that a new nuclear research facility in Ukraine’s Kharkiv city producing radioisotopes for medical and industrial applications, has been damaged by shelling.

Citing Ukraine’s national nuclear regulator, Grossi on Monday said the incident which took place a day earlier did not cause any increase in radiation levels at the site.

“Because the nuclear material in the facility is always sub-critical and the inventory of radioactive material is very low, the IAEA’s assessment confirmed that the damage reported to it would not have had any radiological consequence,” the Director General said in a statement posted on the regulator’s website.