KYIV/VIENNA, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Overnight shelling cut the power line supplying Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, forcing it to switch to emergency diesel generators, Ukraine’s state nuclear company and the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Saturday.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at the site of Europe’s biggest nuclear plant that has damaged buildings and threatened a catastrophic nuclear accident. The International Atomic Energy Agency is pushing for a protection zone to be set up to prevent further shelling.
Even though Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors are shut down the nuclear fuel in them still needs cooling to prevent a nuclear meltdown. That requires a constant supply of electricity.
Nuclear plant needs power supply to avoid meltdown
“The resumption of shelling, hitting the plant’s sole source of external power, is tremendously irresponsible. The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant must be protected,” the IAEA quoted its chief Rafael Grossi as saying in a statement.
The IAEA confirmed an earlier statement by Ukrainian nuclear regulator Energoatom that said the plant had switched to its diesel generators after shelling at around 1 a.m. cut the main 750 kilovolt line supplying external power to the plant.
Overnight shelling brought down the main power line
“All the plant’s safety systems continue to receive power and are operating normally, the IAEA experts (stationed at Zaporizhzhia) were informed by senior Ukrainian operating staff,” the IAEA said.
Grossi has been in talks with Russia and Ukraine on setting up a protection zone around the plant, though he has declined to say what that would involve exactly or how it would be enforced or monitored. He was in Kyiv on Thursday and is due to go to Russia early next week.
“I will soon travel to the Russian Federation, and then return to Ukraine, to agree on a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant. This is an absolute and urgent imperative,” the IAEA quoted Grossi as saying.
In Other Developments
CONFLICT
* Overnight shelling cut the power line supplying Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, forcing it to switch to emergency diesel generators, Ukraine’s state nuclear company and the U.N. atomic watchdog said.
* A U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft flew near the site of the Sept. 26 rupturing of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea hours after the first damage emerged, according to tracking reviewed by Reuters, a flight Washington said was routine.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin marked his 70th birthday on Friday with little fanfare as signs grew that key parts of his Ukraine invasion were unravelling to trigger unprecedented criticism at home.
* Ukrainian authorities found a mass grave in the recently recaptured eastern town of Lyman, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Friday. The Ukrinform news agency quoted a senior police official as saying the grave contained 180 bodies.
* The United States sees no reason to change its nuclear posture and does not have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons, the White House said on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden referred to the threat of a nuclear Armageddon.
ECONOMY, DIPLOMACY
* Putin signed a decree on Friday establishing a new operator for the Exxon Mobil Corp-led Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East, the oil giant’s largest investment in Russia.
* To reverse the economic shock caused by the war Ukraine’s government is pinning its hopes on the entrepreneurial resolve of small businesses, along with the return of millions of refugees – and large-scale international financial aid.
* The International Monetary Fund said on Friday its executive board approved Ukraine’s request for $1.3 billion in additional emergency funding to help sustain its economy as it battles Russia’s invasion.
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his team are working to expand and extend a deal allowing Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports, which could expire in late November, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, HUMAN RIGHTS
* Jailed Belarusian activist Ales Byalyatski, Russian organisation Memorial and Ukrainian group Center for Civil Liberties won the 2022 on Friday The prize will be seen by many as a condemnation of Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
* Passed a motion on Friday to appoint a new independent expert on alleged human rights abuses in Russia, accusing Moscow of creating a “climate of fear” through repression and violence.
