Disconnecting the complex’s generators from the Ukrainian power system would prevent them from being used to keep nuclear fuel cold in the event of a power outage at the plant, he said.
Shutting down a nuclear power plant is a complicated operation that requires stopping the nuclear chain reactions and protecting the fuel from heating up and causing a meltdown.
“If Russia takes steps to force the exit (of the plant) from the Ukrainian electricity system, that could threaten the operational safety of the station, as well as escalate the energy crisis in Ukraine in the winter,” Mark Hibbs told Reuters. , a senior fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in an email.
NATO calls for ‘urgent inspection’ in Zaporizhia
The North Atlantic Organization (NATO) considers it “urgent” that the UN nuclear watchdog carry out an inspection of the Ukrainian plant in Zaporizhia, which is under Russian military control, the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance said on Wednesday. Jens Stoltenberg.
“It is urgent to authorize an inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to guarantee the withdrawal of all Russian forces” from the site, Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels.
The Russian occupation of the Zaporiya plant (in southern Ukraine) “poses a serious threat to the facilities [y] raises the risk of a nuclear accident or incident,” he warned.
With information from AFP and Reuters