The country’s nuclear energy agency said it had placed the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in a “cold shutdown” for safety reasons
Post Date – 11:00 PM, Saturday – 6/10/23
The country’s nuclear energy agency said it had placed the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in a “cold shutdown” for safety reasons
Kyiv: The Ukrainian military reported heavy fighting with Russian troops on Saturday, while the country’s nuclear energy agency said it had put the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on the ground for safety reasons as Russia’s war against Ukraine entered its 16th month. In the “cold shutdown” state.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Kiev on Saturday for a previously unannounced visit after Russian forces bombarded Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight, killing people and damaging a military airport. Second visit to Ukraine since the invasion. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Ukraine’s general staff said on Saturday that “heavy fighting” was underway, a day after 34 clashes broke out in the country’s industrial east. It gave no details but said Russian forces were “defending themselves” and launching air strikes and shelling in southern Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
Five of the six reactors at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant occupied by the Russian army are already in a state of cold shutdown, and all control rods are inserted into the reactor core to stop nuclear fission reactions and heat production. pressure.
Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom said in a statement late on Friday that there was “no immediate threat” to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant due to the breach of the Kakhovka Dam on the lower Dnieper River, which has forced thousands of people to flee floodwaters and the use of Water levels in the reservoirs used to help cool the facility dropped sharply.
Energoatom said it shut down the last reactor, also because nearby shelling damaged overhead lines linking the plant to Ukraine’s energy system.
As all nuclear reactions cease, the temperature and pressure inside the reactor gradually drop, reducing the amount of water cooling required for the radioactive fuel.
This is the safest mode of operation for nuclear power plants. Energoatom employees are still working on the power plant, although it is still controlled by the Russians.
The site’s power unit has not been operating since September last year. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Ukraine in the coming days.
Analysts and Russia say Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, possibly aimed at retaking territory near the nuclear power plant.
Also on Saturday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported that at least four civilians were killed across the country as Russian forces fired Iranian-made Shahed drones, missiles and artillery and mortar attacks.
Three people were killed and more than 20 wounded in an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine’s state emergency service reported.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Combat Command, said two children and a pregnant woman were among the wounded.
Northeast Ukraine Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on Saturday that a 29-year-old man was killed when more than 10 drones struck the Kharkiv region. At least three other civilians were wounded, he added.
Further west, in the Poltava region, Russian drone and missile strikes hit a military airfield overnight, local governor Dmytro Lunin reported. Lunin said no one was injured. As of Saturday morning, there was no further comment from Ukrainian troops or officials on the extent of the damage.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 20 of 35 Shahed drones and two of eight “various types” of missiles fired by Russian forces during the night.
The fighting and civilian casualties are under renewed concern as authorities in southern Ukraine say water levels have been dropping in a large area below the ruptured dam.
In the suburban flood-hit city of Kherson, the average water level dropped by 31 centimeters overnight but remained more than 4.5 meters higher than usual, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported Saturday.
Meteorologists are predicting heavy rain in the region over the weekend, Prokudin warned, complicating rescue efforts.
An “extraordinary” 700,000 people need drinking water, United Nations humanitarian aid chief Martin Griffiths said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.
