Switzerland has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to exclude a high-ranking Russian official from matters involving Russia and Ukraine to guarantee the organisation's independence following Moscow's invasion of its neighbour.

Swiss newspaper 24 heures reported that federal energy councillor Simonetta Sommaruga wrote to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi demanding the reduction of deputy director general Mikhail Chudakov's responsibilities.

Chudakov had long held a board position at a subsidiary of Rosatom, a public firm involved in the Russian army's occupation of Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, the newspaper added.

Sommaruga asked for the Russian to be recused from matters relating to Russia and Ukraine and no longer receive confidential information, according to 24 heures.

Switzerland's federal energy office confirmed that Sommaruga wrote to Grossi on April 1 with those demands.

"For Switzerland, the independence and credibility of the IAEA as well as confidence in its activities are important," a ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

Rosatom is providing civil servants who are collaborating with Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops, and Chudakov's past played a part in Sommaruga's action, 24 heures reported.

Switzerland would have an interest in seeing security information being exchanged between Ukraine's nuclear authority, the Ukrainian government and the IAEA "on the basis of confidence and without any possibility of political influence", Sommaruga added in her letter.

Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group, had demanded the complete exclusion of Chudakov, who has served as head of the IAEA's nuclear energy department since 2015.

IAEA employees are instructed not to obey the orders of national governments or external authorities in their mission to ensure the safety of nuclear sites.

The IAEA in March adopted a resolution calling on Russia to immediately cease its actions against Ukrainian nuclear sites.

The IAEA did not immediately respond to an AFP request to comment, but 24 heures reported that the agency saw no reason to agree to Switzerland's demands.

Related Links
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Safely storing Canada's used nuclear fuel for millennia
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Apr 08, 2022
After more than 10 years studying the geology in two potential siting areas, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has completed a deep borehole drilling program that marks a key milestone in site investigations to confirm a safe location for a deep geological repository to safely contain and isolate Canada's used nuclear fuel. Some of Canada's top geoscientists are leading the studies, in which approximately eight kilometres of core samples were pulled from the bedrock at two Ontario s ... read more