Nuclear power plants, self-evidently, are not designed to be in active war zones. “We need to ensure the physical integrity of all the facilities in the country.”
“I hope and pray that these negotiations are successful,” he said. To minimize the risk of a nuclear catastrophe amid the continuing fighting, Grossi is pressing the Ukrainian and Russian governments to begin diplomatic talks in Ukraine to make sure the battle for Zaporizhzhya is not repeated elsewhere around the country. With four plants that contain 15 reactors, Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power for its electricity. “We’ve never had armed conflict, in this way, with boots on the ground in a country with this configuration of nuclear infrastructure.” “This is unprecedented,” Grossi tells TIME. Yet the situation was anything but reassuring. There was no radioactive leak, nor a risk for meltdown. The facility had been damaged by a “projectile,” Grossi said, but the plant’s critical equipment remained intact. When the clash ended and the fire was extinguished, the Russian military emerged in control. The Zaporizhzhya plant can generate enough energy to illuminate 4 million homes and accounts for one-fifth of the average annual electricity production in Ukraine. Ukraine, for its part, fears that the attack is an opening salvo in Russia’s goal to control their power grid.
A Russian government official told Grossi that the military was seizing the power plant to “prevent acts of sabotage” or terrorism.
Grossi relayed the information to Ukrainian and Russian politicians, whom he called soon after, urging them to halt the hostilities.īut in those conversations, he discovered that what was happening at Zaporizhzhya was no accident. The agency, which reports to the United Nations, was in-touch with workers at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine. Grossi was patched through to the IAEA’s 24-hour Center for Incidents and Emergencies for the latest.
0 kommentar(er)
