He said Russia did not fully understand the plant, which is from the Soviet era but has been extensively modernised. And what they’re doing now is really against all the norms.”
“The nuclear regulator would usually need require you to test something to prove that it’s absolutely safe … it’s not like you cannot experiment with a nuclear power plant. “The problem with Russia is that they’re so reckless,” said Yuriy Vitrenko, the chairman of the gas company Naftogaz, who described Russian actions as “insane”. Making a major change to operations of a nuclear plant in wartime is dangerous in itself, a senior Ukrainian energy official said. So if they turn it off, there’s no way to heat ”, he told the Guardian in June. “The heating system of the city is supplied by the nuclear power plant. The governor of Zaporizhzhia oblast, Oleksandr Starukh, has said that if the plant were to be disconnected, it would leave many of the city’s 700,000 residents without warmth in Ukraine’s bitter winter. And excess heat from the plant is key to regional heating systems. The power it provides would need to be generated at other plants, using up limited supplies of natural gas and other fuels, or the country could face blackouts.
RUSSIAN NUCLEAR REACTOR MELTDOWN OFFLINE
With winter approaching, and Ukraine already concerned about gas supplies, the plant going offline could be damaging to the economy and people’s ability to stay warm. “Let’s make it clear now: ANY deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of Nato’s Article 5,” he said on Twitter.Ġ6:22 'It's insanity': daily life by the Ukraine nuclear plant now on the frontline – videoĮven if the reactors remain intact, however, Russia may plan to weaponise the plant simply by disconnecting it. The Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons defence select committee, said on Friday that any nuclear accident at the site risked drawing Nato into the war. Ukraine’s western allies have warned that any nuclear incident would provoke a swift response.
On Friday while the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, visited the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Russia reportedly closed the Zaporizhzhia site to most personnel, apart from those operating the power units, Energoatom said.Įnergoatom also accused Russia of shelling parts of the plant complex in false flag attacks that Moscow blamed on Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian military intelligence had warned this week that Moscow appeared to be planning a “provocation” at the plant, and Energoatom also raised concerns about unusual activity. On Friday Putin renewed Russian accusations that Ukraine was shelling the site, and in the phone call with Macron he said it could lead to “a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radiation contamination of vast territories”, the Kremlin said in a statement. The western official said fighting around the plant was considered a lesser risk than a cooling failure, because the nuclear reactors are designed to withstand relatively heavy impact, including that from a passenger jet. Russia has controlled the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe, since March and stationed troops and military equipment there, leading to urgent calls for it to be demilitarised, including from the UN and Nato. Main power was lost in an earthquake, a tsunami that followed overwhelmed backup generators, and the lack of cooling led to a partial reactor meltdown.
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“ a situation we should all be watching very closely,” said one source, speaking on condition of anonymity.Ī loss of electricity supply led to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. Western officials said they were concerned about whether water cooling could be maintained, amid accusations that the invaders are not properly maintaining the site. “The Russian military is looking for suppliers of fuel for diesel generators, which must be turned on after the shutdown of power units and in the absence of external power supply for nuclear-fuel cooling systems,” Energoatom said. If it stopped generating electricity, its technicians would have to rely on backup power systems to continue cooling the nuclear reactors, which raises the risk of accidents. Russia has controlled the plant in south-east Ukraine since March, although it is still run by Ukrainian scientists. The Ukrainian nuclear firm Energoatom said on Friday that it feared that Russia plans to switch off the functioning power units at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which in normal times provides about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.
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