Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday evening, August 25, 2022, that the world was on the brink of a radiological disaster after Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was shut down for hours, and called on international bodies to force Russia to act faster. do Forces to evacuate the site.
Zelensky said Thursday’s Russian bombing started a fire in ash pits inside a nearby coal-fired power plant. This led to a power outage at the Zaporizhia station. But a Russian official blamed Ukraine for this.
Zelenskiy added that backup diesel generators provide the necessary power for the plant’s cooling and safety systems, and praised the Ukrainian technicians who operate the plant under the supervision of the Russian military.
“Had it not been for the reaction of our station staff after the power outage, we would now have to face the consequences of a radioactive incident (leakage),” Zelenskiy continued.
He added: “Russia has brought Ukraine and all Europeans one step closer to a radiation disaster… For every minute that Russian forces stay at the nuclear power plant, there is a risk of a global radiation disaster.”
Echoes of these developments were evident in the capital, Kyiv, about 556 kilometers northwest of the station, and residents there expressed concern over the situation.
“Of course everyone is scared and the whole world is scared. I would like things to calm down again… I want to overcome the problem of power cuts and start up additional facilities,” said 35-year-old businessman Volodymyr. He asked not to be named.
Energo Atom, for its part, said that the power needed to meet the station’s needs is now supplied via a line from the Ukrainian power system, and that work is underway to restore grid connectivity to the station’s two active reactors.
Vladimir Rogov, the appointed Russian official in the town of Anrudar near the station, blamed the Ukrainian army for the incident, saying that the Ukrainian army started a fire in a forest near the station. He added: The electricity in the cities of this region was cut off for several hours.
Meanwhile, Energo Atom said it was the first complete blackout at the plant, which has become a hot spot in the six-month war.
It should be noted that Russia invaded Ukraine in February and took control of the station since March, but Ukrainian technicians are still working on it. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of bombing this site. This raised fears of a nuclear disaster.
At the same time, the United Nations is looking to visit this station and has demanded the demilitarization of this area. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Thursday that agency officials were “very, very close” to being allowed to visit Zaporizhia.
Nuclear experts warned of the dangers of damage to the plant’s spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors. A power outage needed to cool the ponds could spell disaster.
Paul Bracken, a national security expert and professor at the Yale School of Management, said the concern is that artillery shells or missiles would pierce the walls of the reactor and release radiation widely, as happened at Chernobyl in 1986.
Bracken added that a failure at the Zaporizhia station could “kill hundreds or thousands of people and cause environmental damage to areas much larger than Europe”.
Source: Lebanon Debate
