A fire in the immediate vicinity of the site, Thursday, damaged the lines carrying electricity to the Ukrainian network and forced the stop of the last two reactors in operation. Moscow and kyiv reject responsibility while a visit to the AIEA could take place in “The next few days”.
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The series of incidents around the Zaporijia nuclear power plant is annoyingly like the chronicle of an announced disaster. The safe environment around the six reactors deteriorated strongly, Thursday, August 25, after a fire resulted in an automatic cut for several hours of the link between the site south of Ukraine, along the DniePR, and the electrical network. Which had never happened to the largest central in Europe since its entry into service in 1985.
The three high -voltage airlines of 750 kilowatts (KW) which leave north – controlled by the Ukrainian government – were damaged by the fire. Only the 330 kW safety line which goes south – zone occupied by the troops of Moscow – has not been disconnected, but its power is insufficient to ensure secure operation of the infrastructure. Data-format = “inread_top” Aria-Hidden = “True”>
To be cooled, the six pressurized water reactors need the operation of so many pumps. Since taking the power plant by the Russian army on March 4, only two reactors have continued to produce energy. On Thursday, rescue diesel generators made it possible to avoid overheating and the connection was restored in the early evening. No radioactive leaks have so far been detected in the surroundings.
The cause of the important fire that broke out on the southern flank of the power plant remains controversial. Visible on satellite shots published in the middle of the day, the main fireplace of the claim is only 1.6 km from reactor number 6 and just 500 meters from the electrical substation, which converts the electricity produced by Turbines by running transportable on the network. As in most incidents of this type, both camps have mutually accused of having bombed the site.
Moscow wants to confiscate the energy produced
The day before the incident, Petro Kotin, the president of Energoatom, the Ukrainian state company operating the country’s nuclear power plants, indicated to the British daily The Guardian that Russian engineers had developed a plan to completely disconnect the Ukrainian network site in the event of damage to the lines caused by fighting. Despite the risk incurred for the reactor cooling system. Energoatom had immediately heard of this project because it is still its employees who operate the power station, under the supervision of Russian soldiers and engineers. What Petro Kotin provided, namely that the Russian army targets the electric lines to Ukraine, was carried out the next day.
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