A Russia-occupied nuclear-power plant outside the southeast Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia lost power Monday, and had to rely on emergency generators before operations were restored.
(Bloomberg) — A Russia-occupied nuclear-power plant outside the southeast Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia lost power Monday, and had to rely on emergency generators before operations were restored.
It was the seventh time the six reactors of Europe’s biggest nuclear plant have been disconnected from the electricity grid since being seized by Russia’s invading forces, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Even when the reactors are shut down, as is the case in Ukraine, nuclear facilities need uninterrupted power flows to pump and circulate the water needed to regulate atomic reactions.
Ukraine’s nuclear utility, Energoatom, said via Telegram that Russian shelling disrupted power transmission at 5:26 a.m. local time but “the risk of a nuclear and radiation incident had been minimized” after engineers repaired the fault. Zaporizhzhia’s sole external electricity link still connects to Ukraine’s grid.
Attempts by the Kremlin-controlled nuclear giant Rosatom Corp. to connect the plant to electricity networks in Russian-controlled territory have so far failed. That’s left Zaporizhzhia extremely vulnerable, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi wrote on Twitter.
A further risk lies in plans for a Ukrainian counter offensive that could attack Zaporizhzhia and on to the southern city of Melitopol. Petro Kotin, the president of Energoatom, suggested earlier his country’s forces could lay siege to the plant to force a Russian capitulation.
The fate of Zaporizhzhia has been a key flashpoint because of the potential international radiological fallout from a meltdown. After months of effort, the IAEA last month abandoned efforts to create a security zone around the plant. Agency monitors continue to be stationed inside the facility to report safety hazards.
–With assistance from Olesia Safronova.
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