Russian forces destroyed an atomic-physics lab under international safeguards in Ukraine’s second-largest city, the head of the world’s nuclear watchdog said, underscoring growing concerns over the safety risks posed by fighting around the country’s atomic facilities.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, who leads the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that a neutron generator at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology was destroyed during a Russian attack but the inventory of radioactive material at the site was small and monitors detected no radiation release.
“We cannot go on like this,” said Grossi, noting that the facility was built in collaboration with U.S. Argonne National Laboratory located outside Chicago. The destroyed lab was used for research as well as to provide medical isotopes for healthcare workers, according to Ukrainian officials
