restore power at Zaporizhia nuclear plant

For the first time in its history, the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, was switched off, raising the risk of a “radioactive disaster”, as President Volodymyr Zelensky described it.

Ukrainian authorities reported this Friday, August 26, that their experts restored a “stable power supply” to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, after bombings and fires in its vicinity on Thursday damaged power lines and disconnected it from electricity. country’s power grid.

The facility was affected after suffering a blackout on Thursday amid bombings and explosions in its vicinity, of which the forces of the invaded country and the Russian troops, who have occupied the facility since last March, blame each other.

In the last few hours, the regional governor Oleksandr Starukh reported the start of operations and noted some progress, indicating that the plant’s sixth reactor is currently “at 10% of its capacity. The fifth block is, according to our information, in the process of restoration” of its operations.

The plant was shut down twice on August 25 when fires that broke out around it affected the last electricity connection to the plant’s reactors. During the blackout, the nuclear power plant received electrical load supplies from a remaining backup line connected to the nearby conventional power facility, explained Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear energy agency.

There were three of these support lines before the war, but two were severed in the middle of the conflict.

The damage caused raised fears of a catastrophe in a country still reeling from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that the world was about to witness a tragedy. “Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster,” the president said.

Why is the risk in Zaporizhia still latent?

Europe’s largest nuclear plant relies on electricity to keep its reactors cool. In the event of a blackout, the facility had three backup power lines, of which only one remained in the middle of the war and it was the one that was affected on Thursday.

If all external connections fail, the nuclear power plant relies on diesel-powered generators for power. If they break down, engineers only have 90 minutes to avoid dangerous overheating.

It was the backup diesel generators that ensured the supply of vital energy for the cooling and safety systems at the plant, according to President Zelensky, praising the Ukrainian technicians who operate the facility under the gaze of the Russian Army.

An operation that the experts resumed hours after the power was cut off due to the bombing.

Now, the Ukrainians are working to fully restore the operation of two of the facility’s six reactors so that their performance is not pushed to the limit.

As long as the bombardments in the area continue, the nuclear facility will remain at risk of a new blackout.

The IAEA plans to visit the Zaporizhia plant next week

Amid the concern, a UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission is expected to visit the Zaporizhia plant next week, Ukrainian officials said Friday.

The team of experts will arrive in the “next few days”, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.

Previously, the director of the United Nations nuclear control body, Rafael Grossi, assured that a delegation is “very close” to going to the facility.

Lana Zerkal, advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Energy, assured the local press that logistical problems are being resolved for the IAEA team to go to the nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian forces and directed by Ukrainian workers since the beginning of the six-month war.

Zerkal accused Moscow of trying to sabotage the visit. kyiv claims the Kremlin is essentially holding the plant “hostage,” stockpiling weapons and launching attacks around it, while Moscow accuses local troops of recklessly firing at the facility.

Belarus threatens to send planes to transport nuclear weapons

Belarusian planes are ready to transport nuclear weapons, assured Alexander Lukashenko, president of the country on the northern border of Ukraine.

The president assured that his country’s SU-24 combat aircraft have been reconditioned to transport nuclear weapons.

According to the Belarusian state news agency Belta, Lukashenko said he had previously agreed on the move with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

“If there is any serious provocation against Belarus (…) the response will be instant,” Lukashenko assured after referring to an alleged challenge from the West.

The Belarusian territory does not possess nuclear weapons of its own, but it is an ally of the Kremlin and has allowed its territory to be used for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

With Reuters, AP and local media