The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, currently occupied by the Russians, is once again connected to the main power transmission line, a day after the connection was interrupted and a possible blackout was threatened, it announced on Friday. ukrainian government.
The reason for the interruption, which occurred on Wednesday night, was the breaking of a cable due to an “enemy” attack by Russian troops, several kilometers from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said in a message. published on the Telegram platform.
In the same message, the ministry informed that the main electrical transmission line, with a power of 750 kV, is once again operational.
On Thursday, Energoatom, the state-owned company that manages Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, announced that the plant was forced to use the 330-kilowatt (kw) standby line due to the lack of power supply through the main line, admitting the risk of a blackout if the second line failed.
On the same occasion, the company reiterated that the occupation of the plant by personnel who do not even have adequate training in nuclear safety is a constant threat that could lead to a catastrophe.
“The international community requires urgent action. Nuclear terrorism in the Russian Federation must be stopped immediately and the invaders must leave the territory of the power plant and its satellite city of Energodar,” the company said in a statement.
Also on Thursday, in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said one of the reactors at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was put into a “cold shutdown” after a water leak was detected in one of the generators.
“Ukrainian Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant will place unit ‘4’ in cold shutdown to determine the precise cause of the detected water leak and will carry out maintenance to repair the affected steam generator,” the IAEA said in a statement, and added that, despite the incident, no radioactivity emission was detected.
Also on Thursday, the IAEA, which has a team of inspectors at the nuclear power plant, announced that the ‘6’ reactor will go into a “hot shutdown” in the coming days, to produce steam, which is used for various safety operations. . such as the processing of liquid nuclear waste.
The UN agency also argued that the safest way for the nuclear power plant would be to install external steam generation equipment.
Inspections carried out last week at the plant’s facilities did not detect the presence of mines or explosives in new locations, but confirmed the existence of these devices in places already detected on July 23, the UN agency added.
At the beginning of July, Ukraine accused Moscow of preparing a provocation, assuring the Kiev army that on the roofs of the ‘3’ and ‘4’ reactors of Zaporizhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, “there were objects similar to artifacts explosives”.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the IAEA has demanded that a security zone be created around the plant.
After falling into the hands of the Russian army on March 4, 2022, the plant was subjected to a fire and suffered several power outages, a precarious situation that raises fears of a nuclear accident.
Since the beginning of June, the Ukrainian army has carried out offensive operations in the east and south to try to recapture territories held by Russian-speaking separatist militias and Russian forces, including the Zaporizhia region.
Source: TSF
