Ukrainian NPP Workers’ Children Meet With IAEA DG, Tour IAEA HQ As Part Of Summer Camp Programme Hosted By Austria

IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi, together with Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Beate Meinl-Reisinger, met with the children of Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plants’

By Blaire Brandt, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication

As part of a two-week Summer Camp Initiative for children of operating personnel of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Ukraine, thirty youngsters visited the Vienna International Centre last week. They met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Beate Meinl-Reisinger, exchanging anecdotes and impressions of their stay in Austria.

By providing an educational and memorable summer experience to their children, the initiative aims to support the wellbeing of operating staff at the NPPs in the country, complementing ongoing efforts under the IAEA Comprehensive Programme of Assistance to Ukraine to help maintain nuclear safety, nuclear security, and safeguards during the armed conflict. The participating thirty children, aged 10-15, are all children of operating personnel at Chornobyl, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs, as well as the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine.

“At the IAEA, we work with Ukraine, in particular trying to help the places where your parents work, to be safe, to support them in what they do,” Director-General Grossi told the children during the visit. “We want, through you, to thank your parents who are working very hard in South Ukraine NPP, in Rivne, in Khmelnytskyy, in Chornobyl, by providing you the opportunity to get some rest, and to get to know a little bit the beautiful country that Austria is.”

The programme was sponsored and hosted by the Government of Austria, and organized in coordination with the IAEA. The Government of Poland also provided logistical and transportation support, and hosted the group for a day of sightseeing and museum visits in Kraków. Most of the two-week camp was spent at a campsite in the mountainous Austrian province of Carinthia, where the children engaged in team- and watersports, went hiking through the woods, cycled around town and spent time playing card games, table tennis and much more.

“Not every day you get the chance to travel to another country or be part of a project which exists thanks to your effort,” one of the children said during the visit. “Every day, we swam in the lake, we rode bikes, we visited interesting museums, and we even hiked. And right now, we’re honored to meet people who play important roles in the world.”

As part of their visit to Agency headquarters, the children also got to tour the Vienna International Centre where the IAEA and other international organizations are based, hear a presentation on nuclear sciences and applications, and even meet the Canine Unit of the UN’s Security Team in Vienna.

“I was pretty excited for this trip to start; to be honest my expectations were high, but now I can say that it was even better than I thought it would be,” one of the participating children said. “I can say that we can all learn something from this trip; for example, I learned some Austrian traditions, words, and expressions. I believe my teammates will share my gratitude for this fabulous experience that we had an opportunity to earn.”

When asked to describe their experience in three words, the children most used amazing, exciting and unforgettable; one child even said it was the most exciting trip of her life.