Warning comes after the last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine\u2019s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily cut
\nUkraine
\nVolodymyr Zelenskiy has said the world narrowly avoided a \u201cradiation disaster\u201d as the last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine\u2019s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was restored hours after being cut by shelling.
\nThe Ukranian president said officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN\u2019s nuclear watchdog, must be given urgent access to the site.
\nZelenskiy blamed shelling on Thursday by Russia\u2019s military for fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station that disconnected the reactor complex, Europe\u2019s largest such facility, from the power grid. He said back-up diesel generators ensured power supply and kept the plant safe.
\n\u201cIf our station staff had not reacted after the blackout, then we would have already been forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation accident,\u201d he said in an evening address. \u201cRussia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster.\u201d
\nIAEA officials should be given access to the site within days, he said, \u201cbefore the occupiers take the situation to the point of no return\u201d.
\nNegotiations are under way for the UN\u2019s nuclear watchdog to visit the site, and Ukraine\u2019s top nuclear official told the Guardian that IAEA inspectors could arrive by the end of the month.
\nUntil then, continued fighting puts the plant, and potentially much of Europe, at risk. A nuclear accident could spread radiation far across the continent.
\nUkrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said Thursday\u2019s incident represented the plant\u2019s first complete disconnection in its nearly 40 years of operation. Electricity is used for cooling and safety systems.
\nRussia, which invaded Ukraine in February, captured the plant in March and has controlled it since, although Ukrainian technicians still operate it.
\nRussia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the site, fuelling fears of a nuclear disaster. The White House called on Russia to agree to a demilitarised zone around the plant, after Joe Biden spoke to Zelenskiy on Thursday.
\nThe US state department also cautioned Russia against redirecting energy from the site.
\n\u201cThe electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine and any attempt to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and redirect to occupied areas is unacceptable,\u201d spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. \u201cNo country should turn a nuclear power plant into an active war zone and we oppose any Russian efforts to weaponise or divert energy from the plant.\u201d
\nThe IAEA said Ukraine had informed it the plant temporarily lost connection, \u201cfurther underlining the urgent need for an IAEA expert mission to travel to the facility\u201d.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t afford to lose any more time. I\u2019m determined to personally lead an IAEA mission to the plant in the next few days,\u201d the organisation\u2019s director general, Rafael Grossi, said.
\nWriting on Telegram, Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied town of Enerhodar near the plant, said satellite photos showed the local forest in flames. He said towns in the area lost power for several hours on Thursday.
\n\u201cThis was caused by the disconnection of power lines from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station as a result of provocations by Zelenskiy\u2019s fighters,\u201d Rogov claimed. \u201cThe disconnection itself was triggered by a fire and short circuit on the power lines.\u201d
\nNuclear experts have warned of the risk of damage to the plant\u2019s spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors. Cuts in the power needed to cool the pools could cause a disastrous meltdown.
\nThere have been growing international concerns about safety at Europe\u2019s largest nuclear plant. It has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war, and they are now using it to house military vehicles and equipment.
\nThe complex supplied more than 20% of Ukraine\u2019s electricity needs and its loss would pile new strain on the government.
\nThe head of Energoatom\u2019s told the Guardian on Wednesday that Russian engineers had drawn up a blueprint to permanently disconnect the plant from the national grid and connect it to the Russian power network instead. Petro Kotin said the plan was ostensibly aimed at maintaining power supply to the plant if all connections to Ukraine were cut off by fighting, as they were on Thursday. But Ukraine fears Russia may deliberately cut the lines.
\nRussian and Ukrainian forces have reached a relative stalemate in recent months, partly after the west supplied new long-range missiles that have hampered Russia\u2019s supply lines and ability to continue with its offensives. Ukraine says it also does not have the weapons it needs to launch a decisive counteroffensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Warning comes after the last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine\u2019s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily cut Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the world narrowly avoided a \u201cradiation disaster\u201d as the last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine\u2019s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was restored hours after being cut by shelling. The Ukranian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-279773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n