Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The USA calls Russia a dangerous adversary; Putin accuses Ukraine of nuclear terrorism
Vienna/Washington/Moscow: A few hours after its connection to the grid was cut for the second time in less than a week, external power was restored to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today. He stressed that the power situation at the ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, remained very “fragile”.
The IAEA team of experts present at the ZNPP said the plant’s connection to its last remaining operating 750 kilovolt (kV) power line was re-established around 1:40 pm local time, enabling the plant to switch off the diesel generators that had been providing the reactors with electricity after the off-site power was lost in the morning.
Ukraine’s national nuclear operator Energoatom earlier said shelling had caused the off-site power loss by damaging a sub-station – part of the grid’s electrical transmission and distribution system – located far from the plant itself. Last Saturday, the ZNPP’s external power connection was cut due to renewed shelling near the plant. It was repaired the following day. The plant’s diesel generators have fuel for about 10 days.
The plant’s six reactors are in a cold shutdown but still require power for cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions. A secure off-site power supply from the grid is essential for ensuring nuclear safety. This requirement is among the seven indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars that the Director General outlined at the beginning of the conflict.
Meanwhile, the United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at an “on-the-record” press call previewing the release of the National Security Strategy in Washington that “what the nuclear threats from Russia remind us of is just what a significant and seriously dangerous adversary Russia is — not just to the United States but to a world that is seeking peace and stability…”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, reiterated at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week International Forum in Moscow today that the Kyiv regime had long resorted to terrorist methods, organising political assassinations, ethnic purges and crackdowns on civilians. “They do not stop at nuclear terrorism either, specifically the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, terrorist attacks near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia and, of course, sabotage attempts against TurkStreamm” Putin stated.
Putin also mentioned the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, as well as the blowing up of the Crimean bridge that he claimed to be the handiwork of Ukrainian intelligence.
The sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, he termed an act of international terrorism, “the purpose of which is to undermine the energy security of the entire continent”. He claimed that the logic was cynical: to destroy and block cheap energy sources, hence depriving millions of people, industrial consumers of gas, heat, electricity and other resources and forcing them to buy all this at much higher prices. Forcing.
“The attack on the Nord Streams has set an extremely dangerous precedent, which shows that any critical piece of transport, energy or communications infrastructure is under threat, regardless of its location, management or whether it lies on the seabed or on land,” he said.
– global bihari bureau
