OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Russian government says it is committed to ensuring nuclear safety and safeguarding the lives and health of employees in its nuclear industry and the general public.
Alexey Likhachev, Diretor General of ROSATOM, Russia’s state owned nuclear energy corporation stated in a statement on monday.
Likhachev said: ” Safety has been our first and utmost priority for decades. Safety is Rosatom’s key value. We have always had contingency plans for any kind of emergency situations, including those related to the health of our employees.”
He added: “At present, we have introduced additional measures at all of Russia’s nuclear power plants, including regular health check-ups of our personnel.
“We have arranged for as many employees as possible to work remotely and purchased personal protective equipment and hygiene-related products in bulk; we are constantly disinfecting our production facilities and vehicles and have essentially cancelled all business trips.
“We are monitoring our employees’ health in close cooperation with local authorities across our areas of operation. We have developed a number of additional contingency plans for various scenarios of the coronavirus pandemic that may have an effect on the health of our Nuclear Power Plant employees.”
Likachev further informed that ROSATOM has taken similar measures at nuclear power plant construction sites across the globe.
“We are carrying on with all our export new builds despite challenges related to the spread of the coronavirus in a number of countries. Of course, the most stringent measures have been put in place at our sites in such countries in order to ensure the safety of personnel,” he pointed out.
ROSATOM, he noted, is guided by the recommendations of the disease control services and governments of the countries it operates and is fully prepared to strengthen measures to counter the spread of the infection, including quarantine, if said measures are introduced by local authorities.
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“ROSATOM is taking all necessary precautions to minimise the negative impact this health crisis has on supply chains and to ensure that we fully meet our obligations to customers according to timelines stipulated in all relevant contracts,” he concluded.
