SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Ukraine nuclear plant's last working reactor disconnected: operator
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept 5 (AFP) Sep 05, 2022
Ukraine's embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's last working reactor has been switched off from the grid, the Ukrainian power plants operator said on Monday.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (ZNPP) -- Europe's largest atomic facility -- has been shelled in recent weeks, with Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the attacks, raising concerns of a possible incident.

"Power unit (reactor) No. 6 was unloaded and disconnected from the grid" because of a fire that was "triggered because of shelling", state-run company Energoatom said in a statement on Monday.

"The world is once again on the brink of a nuclear disaster. The de-occupation of the ZNPP and the creation of a demilitarised zone around it is the only way to ensure nuclear safety," Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko said following the news on Monday.

This was the last working reactor out of six, after shelling disconnected reactor number 5 on Saturday, according to a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"After the ZNPP connection to its last remaining operational 750 kilovolt (kV) line was lost late on Friday, the 330 kV reserve line had been used to deliver electricity from the ZNPP to the grid," the UN nuclear agency said on Monday.

"Ukraine informed IAEA that this back-up line will be re-connected once the fire has been extinguished.

"A secure off-site power supply from the grid and back-up power supply systems are essential for ensuring nuclear safety," it added.


- 'Worrisome' -


EU high representative and vice president Josep Borrell said the news was "worrisome" at a press conference alongside Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmygal in Brussels.

Borrell said the "nuclear gamble has to stop" and accused Russia of "reckless behaviour, disdain for international law, basic principles of nuclear safety".

Last week, a 14-strong team from the IAEA visited Zaporizhzhia, with the UN nuclear watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi saying the site had been damaged in fighting.

Grossi and part of his team left the site on Thursday, but several members of the mission stayed at the facility to conduct more in-depth analysis.

Out of the six experts that stayed in the facility, four left on Monday and the remaining two are expected to remain in the power plant "on a permanent basis", according to an Energoatom statement on Monday.

Grossi will on Tuesday issue a report about nuclear safety in Ukraine that will include the mission's findings, the IAEA said, and he will brief the United Nations Security Council on the same day about the visit.

Ukraine was the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, when a reactor at the northern Chernobyl plant exploded and spewed radiation into the atmosphere.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Private capital targets mission-critical software power and platforms in new space economy
Maven stays silent after routine pass behind Mars
Uranus and Neptune may be rock rich worlds

24/7 Energy News Coverage
IAEA calls for repair work on Chernobyl sarcophagus
South Africa's informal miners fight for their future in coal's twilight
China's smaller manufacturers look to catch the automation wave

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems
UK's new military chief to stress Russian threat; Royal navy tracked Russian sub in Channel
Momentus joins US Space Force SHIELD contract vehicle

24/7 News Coverage
Indonesia flood death toll passes 1,000 as authorities ramp up aid
US agency wipes climate change facts from website: reports
Kennedy's health movement turns on Trump administration over pesticides



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.