The move came a day after the plant was temporarily shut down due to what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. The incident raised fears of a nuclear disaster in a country still haunted by the 1986 Chernobyl explosion. Continuous shelling was reported in the area overnight and satellite images from Planet Labs showed fires burning around the complex – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – in recent days. The iodine tablets, which help prevent the absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland in the event of a nuclear accident, were issued in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 45 kilometers from the plant. The UN atomic energy agency is trying to send a team to inspect and help secure the plant. Officials said preparations for the trip were underway, but it remained unclear when it might take place. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen outside the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar, in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, on Monday. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters) The Zaporizhzhia factory has been occupied by Russian forces and run by Ukrainian workers since the early days of the six-month war. The two sides have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the site. In Thursday’s incident, Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for damage to the transmission line that knocked the plant off the power grid. Exactly what went wrong was not clear, but Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said the plant’s emergency backup diesel generators had to be activated to provide electricity to run the complex. The plant needs energy to run the reactors’ vital cooling systems. Loss of cooling could lead to nuclear meltdown. Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s transmission system operator, said on Friday that two damaged main lines supplying the plant with electricity had resumed operation, ensuring a stable power supply. WATCHES | Zelenskyy warns of “danger of global destruction from radioactivity”:
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. The country’s nuclear power agency, Energoatom, said the plant had been reconnected to the grid and was producing electricity “for Ukraine’s needs”. “Nuclear workers of the Zaporizhzhia power plant are real heroes! They tirelessly and steadfastly support the nuclear and radioactive safety of Ukraine and the whole of Europe on their shoulders,” the agency said in a statement. Officials stationed by Russia in the Zaporizhzhia region, however, said the plant supplied electricity only to Russian-controlled parts of the country and not to the rest of Ukraine. Concerns about the site have echoed across Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron said a visit by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should be allowed to take place “very quickly”. He added that “civil nuclear power should not be an instrument of war.” Lana Zerkal, an adviser to Ukraine’s energy minister, told Ukrainian media that logistics for an IAEA visit were still being worked out. Zerkal accused Russia of trying to sabotage the visit. WATCHES | Russia ‘playing poker’ with nuclear plant, says Bob Rae:
Russia is ‘playing poker’ with a nuclear plant: Bob Ray
“Finally, even the Russians realize that playing poker with a nuclear power plant is a terrible thing.” Canada’s UN ambassador Bob Rae says he believes the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, will have access to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine has claimed that Russia is using the plant as a shield by storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it. Moscow, for its part, accuses Ukraine of reckless firing at the site. Zaporizhzhia’s reactors are protected by containment domes made of thick, reinforced concrete, which experts say can withstand an errant artillery shell. Many of the fears of damage to the plant center on the potential loss of the cooling system, as well as the risk that an attack on the cooling ponds where the spent fuel rods are stored could disperse radioactive material. Ongoing Russian shelling of Nikopoli, a city across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhia factory, destroyed 10 homes, a school and a health care facility but caused no injuries, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentin Reznichenko said.
