The complex, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, has been occupied by Russian forces and run by Ukrainian workers since the early days of the six-month war. Ukraine claims Russia is effectively holding the plant hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it, while Moscow accuses Ukraine of firing recklessly into the facility. On Thursday, the plant was cut off from the power grid after fires damaged the last operating transmission line, according to Ukraine’s nuclear power agency, Energoatom. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russian bombing and said the plant’s emergency backup diesel generators had to be activated to provide the power needed to run the plant. Overview of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and fires, in Enerhodar, Ukraine on August 24 (European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 images/File via Reuters) “Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans one step away from a radioactive disaster,” Zelensky said in his video speech overnight. The governor of Zaporizhzhia, who has settled in Russia, Yevgeny Balitsky, blamed the damage to the transmission line on a Ukrainian attack. It was not immediately clear whether the damaged line carried outgoing or incoming power, necessary for the reactors’ vital cooling systems. A backup line supplying electricity from another plant remained in place, Energoatom said. WATCHES | Zelensky urges international pressure on Russia:
Zelensky warns of ‘danger of global catastrophe from radioactivity’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said further international pressure was needed to persuade Russia to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and that failure to do so could lead to a nuclear disaster. But Zelenskyy’s reference to turning on emergency generators raised questions about whether cooling systems were at risk. Loss of cooling could cause nuclear meltdown. As a result of the transmission line damage, the two reactors still in use out of the plant’s six were shut down, Balitsky said, but one was quickly restored, as was power to the area.
Emergency systems were activated
Many nuclear power plants are designed to automatically shut down or at least reduce reactor output in the event of loss of outgoing transmission lines. The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine had informed it that the reactors’ emergency protection systems had been activated and all safety systems remained operational. The three regular transport lines to the factory are out of service due to damage from a previous war. “Anyone who understands nuclear safety issues has been shaking for the last six months,” Michael Snyder, a consultant and coordinator of the Global Nuclear Industry Report, said before the latest incident. The plant, unveiled on August 22, is under Russian control but operated by Ukrainian personnel. Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of bombing the plant — Europe’s largest. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters) Ukraine cannot simply shut down its nuclear plants during the war because it is heavily dependent on them. Its 15 reactors at four stations provide about half of its electricity. However, an armed conflict near an active nuclear plant is worrying for many experts and people who live nearby. That fear is evident just across the Dnieper River in Nikopoli, where residents have endured near-constant Russian bombardment since July 12, with eight people killed, 850 buildings damaged and more than half the population of 100,000 displaced. the city. While no civilian nuclear power plant is designed for war situations, Zaporizhzhia’s reactors are protected by reinforced concrete containment domes that could withstand an errant shell, experts say. WATCHES | The costs and limitations of a heavy artillery war:
Canada is moving military transport planes to the UK to support Ukraine
The Canadian military’s air force in Kuwait — which supports counter-terrorism operations and UN peacekeeping missions in Africa — is moving to the UK to support Ukraine.
The IAEA aims to send a team to the plant
The most immediate concern is that a power outage could destroy the cooling systems necessary for the safe operation of the reactors. Emergency diesel generators can be unreliable. The pools where the spent fuel rods are kept while they are cool are also vulnerable to shelling, which could disperse radioactive material. Kyiv told the IAEA that shelling earlier this week damaged transformers at a nearby conventional power plant, knocking out power to the Zaporizhzhia plant for several hours. The head of the nuclear agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Thursday that he hoped to send a team to the plant within days. Negotiations on how the team will gain access to the factory are complicated but progressing, he told France-24 television. “Kyiv accepts it. Moscow accepts it. So we have to go there,” Grossi said. At a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo urged the withdrawal of all troops and military equipment from the plant and an agreement on a demilitarized zone around it. LISTEN | Fears of disaster at a nuclear plant: The Current19:25 Fears of disaster at Russian-controlled Ukrainian nuclear plant In Ukraine, a Russian-held nuclear power plant is warning the international community of potential disaster. Guest host Michelle Shephard discusses the risks with Associated Press international correspondent Philip Crowther. and Mariana Budjeryn, Ukrainian nuclear expert at Harvard’s Belfer Center.
