- Work is underway to reconnect two operating reactors to the grid
- Zelenskiy urges global pressure to force Russians out of site
- Residents of Kyiv are concerned about the situation at the plant
- https://tmsnrt.rs/3wuZdx9
KYIV, Aug 26 (Reuters) – The world narrowly escaped a radiation disaster when power was cut at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant for hours, Ukraine’s president said, as urged international bodies to act more quickly to force Russian troops to leave the site.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Russian shelling on Thursday had caused fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal-fired power plant that disconnected the Zaporozhzhia plant from the power grid. A Russian official said Ukraine was to blame.
Backup diesel generators ensured the power supply that is vital to the plant’s cooling and safety systems, Zelenskiy said, praising Ukrainian technicians who operate the plant under the watchful eye of the Russian military.
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“If our station staff had not reacted after the blackout, we would have already been forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation accident,” he said in a video address Thursday evening.
“Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster… Every minute that Russian troops remain at the nuclear power plant there is a risk of a global radiation catastrophe,” he said.
Residents of the capital Kyiv, about 556 km (345 miles) northwest of the plant, expressed alarm at the situation.
“Of course everyone is afraid, the whole world is afraid. I really want the situation to be peaceful again… I want the electricity shortage to be overcome and the additional facilities to be operational,” he said ‘businessman Volodymyr, 35, who refused to do so. give your last name
Energoatom said electricity for the plant’s needs was being supplied through a power line from Ukraine’s power system and work was underway to restore grid connection to the plant’s two operating reactors.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied town of Enerhodar, near the plant, blamed Ukraine’s armed forces for the incident, saying they started a fire in a forest near the plant. He said local towns had lost power for several hours.
“This was caused by the disconnection of the power lines of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as a result of the provocations of Zelenskiy’s fighters,” Rogov wrote in Telegram. “The outage itself was triggered by a fire and a short circuit in the power lines.”
Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that its forces had destroyed a US-made M777 howitzer that it said Ukraine had used to bomb the Zaporizhzhia plant. Satellite images showed a fire near the plant, but Reuters could not verify the cause.
Map that locates the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia
HOTSPOT
Energoatom said Thursday’s incident was the first full shutdown of the plant, which has become a hot spot during the six-month war.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February, seized the plant in March and has controlled it ever since, although Ukrainian technicians still operate it. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the site, fueling fears of a nuclear disaster.
Overview of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and fires, at Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, August 24, 2022. European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 images/handout via REUTERS
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The United Nations is seeking access to the plant and has called for the area to be demilitarized. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials are “very, very close” to being able to visit Zaporizhzhia, the agency’s director general Rafael Grossi said on Thursday.
Germany on Friday condemned Russia’s continued occupation of the plant. “The situation (there) is still very, very dangerous,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Nuclear experts have warned of the risk of damage to the plant’s spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors. Power outages needed to cool the pools could lead to a disastrous meltdown.
Paul Bracken, a national security expert and professor at the Yale School of Management, said the concern was that artillery shells or missiles could pierce the walls of the reactor and spread radiation around a potentially large area, such as the 1986 accident involving the Chornobyl reactor.
A failure at the Zaporizhzhia plant could “kill hundreds or thousands of people and environmentally damage a much larger area reaching into Europe,” Bracken said.
“Russian roulette is a good metaphor because the Russians are spinning the barrel of the revolver, threatening to explode reactor brains all over Europe,” Bracken said.
FIGHT
Russia’s ground campaign has stalled in recent months after its troops were pushed out of the capital Kyiv in the first weeks of the invasion, but fighting continues on the front in the south and east.
Russian forces control territory along Ukraine’s Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, while the conflict has turned into a war of attrition in the eastern Donbass region, which includes the Donetsk provinces and Luhansk.
The explosions were heard early Friday in the southern city of Mykolaiv, a key battleground as Russian forces try to push further west along the coast to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea.
The immediate cause of the blasts was unclear, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said, adding that two nearby villages had been shelled. There were no reports of casualties.
The Ukrainian military said its forces had repulsed Russian assaults on the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region and hit ammunition depots and enemy personnel in the southern Kherson region.
Ukrainian forces fired about 10 rockets from a US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher at the town of Stakhanov in the eastern Donbas region, pro-Moscow separatist officials in Luhansk said, the agency said of Russian news TASS.
Reuters was unable to verify battlefield reports from either side.
The Kremlin says its goal is to “desazify” and demilitarize Ukraine and eliminate perceived security threats in Russia. Ukraine and the West say this is a baseless pretext for a war of conquest.
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Reuters bureau reports; Writing by Daniel Wallis, Stephen Coates and Gareth Jones; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Simon Cameron-Moore and Philippa Fletcher
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