Ukraine: No contact with Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhia – Politics abroad

Then Chernobyl now also Zaporizhia!

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has the connection with the largest European nuclear power plant in the Ukraine lost. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced on Wednesday that the data connection to monitoring devices in Zaporizhia had been interrupted.

It is still unclear why contact with the nuclear power plant was lost. Either way, the loss of contact is worrying for the IAEA because: “Data lines allow us to monitor nuclear material and activities at these sites when our inspectors are not present,” Grossi said.

Grossi also claimed that Turkey invited him to the meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya. “I hope we will make progress on the urgent issue of ensuring the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities,” he wrote on Twitter.

On Wednesday, when there was still contact with the nuclear power plant, the nuclear regulatory authority could not detect any increase in radiation.

▶︎ Worrying: The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been damaged since the fighting on March 4. Two of the five power lines that feed the nuclear power plant and a transformer are broken.

However, the operator assured that the nuclear power plant could also be supplied with sufficient electricity through a cable. Also, the diesel generators are ready to generate emergency power if needed.

This is all the more important because a fire broke out at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in early March when Russian troops attacked the site. Since then, two of the five electrical cables feeding the power plant have been damaged.

Chernobyl relies on emergency generator

Nearly two weeks ago, Putin’s troops captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and bitter fighting broke out there: on Wednesday, Ukraine reported with concern that the nuclear power plant was no longer connected to the power grid.

Diesel-powered emergency generators are on and have a capacity of 48 hours, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on his Twitter account. Then there is the risk of radioactive contamination.

The IAEA says radioactive material can continue to be stored safely despite the power outage. The power supply is basically an essential safety factor, the organization wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. At Chernobyl, however, spent fuel elements are in large enough cooling pools that they would dissipate enough heat even without electricity, he said. “In this case, the IAEA does not see a critical safety impact.”

Heinz Smital, a Greenpeace nuclear expert, also sees it this way: “If the diesel units run out now, there will not necessarily be an immediate release of radioactivity. Even if the fuel elements heat up, you still have time to act,” Smital told BILD.

And what does that mean for Germany?

climatologist dr. Karsten Brandt from Donnerwetter.de to BILD: “Currently there is no danger for Central Europe. The icy air is moving south towards Crimea, heading towards Turkey via the Black Sea, and the Balkans may also be affected over the weekend. It will be critical from Monday: East Germany, Bavaria and Berlin could also be affected by easterly winds. So be careful. From next week there will be a risk, at least to the east and south, if larger amounts of radioactivity escape.”