AP – Ukraine’s state nuclear energy operator said yesterday that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, caught in the Ukraine-Russia war, is operating in emergency mode with elevated risk.
The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant came under the control of Russian forces early in the war that started in February, but is being operated by Ukrainian staff. The plant and surrounding areas have been repeatedly hit by shelling that Russia and Ukraine blame on each other’s forces.
The last power line connecting the plant to the Ukrainian electricity grid was cut on Monday, leaving the plant without an outside source of electricity and receiving power for its own safety systems from the only one of the six reactors that remains operational.
Energoatom, the state nuclear operator, said yesterday that repairs to the outside lines are impossible because of the shelling and that operating in the so-called “island” carries the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards. “Only the withdrawal of the Russians from the plant and the creation of a security zone around it can normalise the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Only then will the world be able to exhale,” the head of Energoatom Petro Kotin said yesterday.
Fighting continued yesterday in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine and in the north where Ukraine claims to have recently pushed Russian forces out of some areas. Ukraine this week claimed to have regained control of more than 20 settlements in the Kharkiv region, including the small city of Balakliya.
Social media posts showed weeping and smiling residents embracing Ukrainian soldiers.
