Ukraine narrowly escapes nuclear catastrophe as plant loses power,
Zelenskiy says
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[August 26, 2022]
By Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder
KYIV (Reuters) -The world narrowly escaped
a radiation disaster when electricity to Europe's largest nuclear power
plant was cut for hours, Ukraine's president said, urging international
bodies to act faster to force Russian troops to vacate the site.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian shelling on Thursday had
sparked fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station that
disconnected the Zaporozhzhia plant from the power grid. A Russian
official said Ukraine was to blame.
Back-up diesel generators ensured power supply that is vital for cooling
and safety systems at the plant, Zelenskiy said, praising the Ukrainian
technicians who operate the plant under the gaze of the Russian
military.
"If our station staff had not reacted after the blackout, then we would
have already been forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation
accident," he said in a video address on 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 station there is a risk of global radiation
catastrophe," he said.
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Residents in the capital Kyiv, some 556 km (345 miles) to the northwest
of the plant, expressed alarm at the situation.
"Of course everyone is afraid, the entire world is afraid. I really want
the situation to become peaceful again... I want the power shortages to
be overcome and additional facilities to be operational," said
businessman Volodymyr, 35, who declined to give his surname.
Energoatom said electricity for the plant's own needs was now being
supplied through a power line from Ukraine's electricity system, and
work was ongoing to restore grid connection to the plant's two
functioning 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 caused 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 power lines from the
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station as a result of provocations by
Zelenskiy's fighters," Rogov wrote on Telegram. "The disconnection
itself was triggered by a fire and short circuit on the power lines."
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed a
U.S.-made M777 howitzer which it said Ukraine had used to shell the
Zaporizhzhia plant. Satellite images showed a fire near the plant but
Reuters could not verify its cause.
HOTSPOT
Energoatom said Thursday's incident had been the first complete
disconnection of the plant, which has become a hotspot in the
six-month-old war.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February, captured the plant in March and has
controlled it since, though Ukrainian technicians still operate it.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the site,
fuelling fears of a nuclear disaster.
The United Nations is seeking access to the plant and has called for the
area to be demilitarised. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
officials are "very, very close" to being able to visit Zaporizhzhia,
agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Thursday.
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![](../images/082622PIX/news_h81.jpg)
Overview of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power
plant and fires, in Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine,
August 24, 2022. European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2
imagery/Handout via REUTERS
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Germany on Friday condemned Russia's continued occupation of the
plant. "The situation (there) is still very, very dangerous," a
foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Nuclear experts have warned of the risk of damage to the plant's
spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors. Cuts in power needed to
cool the pools could cause 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 puncture the reactor walls and spread radiation
around potentially a large area, much like the 1986 accident
involving the Chornobyl reactor.
A failure at the Zaporizhzhia plant could "kill hundreds or
thousands of people, and damage environmentally a far larger area
reaching into Europe," Bracken said.
"Russian Roulette is a good metaphor because the Russians are
spinning the chamber of the revolver, threatening to blow out the
brains of the reactor all over Europe," Bracken said.
FIGHTING
Russia's ground campaign has stalled in recent months after its
troops were repelled from the capital Kyiv in the early weeks of the
invasion, but fighting continues along the front lines to the south
and east.
Russian forces control territory along Ukraine's Black Sea and Sea
of Azov coasts, while the conflict has settled into a war of
attrition in the eastern Donbas region, which comprises the
provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Explosions were heard in the early hours of Friday in the southern
city of Mykolaiv, a key battleground as Russian forces try to push
further westwards 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 villages nearby had been shelled.
There were no reports of casualties.
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The Ukraine military said its forces had repulsed Russian assaults
on the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region
and struck ammunition depots and enemy personnel in the southern
Kherson region.
Ukrainian forces fired some 10 rockets from a U.S.-supplied HIMARS
multiple rocket launcher at the town of Stakhanov in the eastern
Donbas region, pro-Moscow breakaway officials in Luhansk were quoted
by Russia's TASS news agency as saying.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports of either side.
The Kremlin says its aim is to "denazify" and demilitarise Ukraine
and remove perceived security threats to Russia. Ukraine and the
West say this is a baseless pretext for a war of conquest.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Daniel Wallis, Stephen
Coates and Gareth Jones; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Simon
Cameron-Moore and Philippa Fletcher)
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