Re-establishment of electricity connection with Zaporizhia

 

Ukraine's state nuclear energy agency said the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant had been re-connected to Ukraine's power grid.  According to Energoat of Ukraine, the power connection of this plant was cut off for several hours last Thursday due to shelling by Russian troops.  Authorities have begun distributing iodine tablets to residents near the nuclear power plant to protect them from possible radiation damage.  Al-Jazeera news.

 Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that the world had narrowly escaped another nuclear disaster.  He said that Europe will be in danger of large radiation if the power-connection of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Russian-controlled Ukraine is cut off.  He urged the international community to take steps to withdraw Russian troops from that area.

Zelensky said a fire next to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant caused by shelling by Russian troops last Thursday damaged electrical connections.  This caused the disconnection of the power plant in Zaporizhia.  A Russian official blamed Ukraine for the attack.

 Zelensky said that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was spared from disaster only because the diesel-powered generator system was operational.  "If our workers there had not taken action, we would have already had to deal with the consequences of the radiological disaster," Zelensky said in a speech Thursday night, praising technical officials in Ukraine under Russian control.

Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.  Concerns about the facility's security are growing due to counter-attacks by Ukrainian and Russian forces around the facility.  Zelensky also alleged that Moscow had brought Europe to the "edge of the abyss" of nuclear disaster.

 But Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in Zaporizhia, blamed the Ukrainian military for the attack.  He accused them of keeping the area without electricity.  Rogov said Ukrainian troops set fire to a forest near the nuclear power plant.  Local residents were left without power for several hours.  A short circuit in the electrical connection causes the nuclear power plant to lose power.

 On February 24, Russian forces started attacking Ukraine.  They took control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant last March.  Since then it has been operated by Ukrainian staff.

The United Nations has requested the opportunity to monitor the nuclear power plant.  Apart from this, it has been said to withdraw the troops from that area.  International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi said agency officials were very close to beginning monitoring of the nuclear plant.

 Nuclear experts have warned of the risk of radioactive fallout from shelling.  US national security expert and professor at Yale School of Management, Paul Bracken, said, "A shelling can burst the walls of a nuclear reactor and spread radioactivity over a large area.  A situation similar to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 may arise.  Tens of thousands of people could die if Zaporizhia's security fails.  Apart from this, the impact of natural disasters can reach Europe.