World ‘narrowly avoided nuclear radiation disaster’, Zelensky warns

The world was pushed to the brink of a Chernobyl-style radiation disaster when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid, President Volodomyr Zelensky claimed.

Only a back-up electricity generator kicking in at the Zaporizhzhia facility avoided a disastrous meltdown, he added.

Fires near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant forced its reactors offline, plunging swathes of southern Ukraine into a blackout that heightened fears Russia is planning to cut off electricity to the country.

Mr Zelensky warned: ‘If the diesel generators hadn’t turned on – if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout – then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident.

‘Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster… every minute that Russian troops remain at the nuclear power station there is a risk of global radiation catastrophe.’

Residents in the capital Kyiv, around 556 km (345 miles) to the northwest of the plant, admitted they were petrified at the alert.

Volodymyr, 35, who declined to give his surname, said: ‘Of course everyone is afraid, the entire world is afraid. I really want the situation to become peaceful again… I want the power shortages to be overcome and additional facilities to be operational.’

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The International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) – the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog – said the plant ‘remained connected to a 330kV line from the nearby thermal power facility that can provide back-up electricity if needed’.

It was repaired and at least one of the plant’s two remaining reactors was back online by Thursday night.

The incident has sparked global worries, with the White House warning Russia it should agree to a demilitarised zone around the nuclear plant, which has been in the Ukrainian invaders’ hands since March.

The United Nations is also seeking urgent access to the facility and has called for the area to be demilitarised.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said its officials are ‘very, very close’ to being able to visit Zaporizhzhia.

He added: ‘Almost every day there is a new incident at or near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. We can’t afford to lose any more time.’

The Russian-controlled power plant was disconnected from the Ukrainian grid when blazes in ash pits of a nearby coal-fired power plant twice severed transmission lines.

Industry sources said the inferno was caused by shelling, with Ukraine also blaming bombing and the ‘actions of invaders’ for the outage.

A Russian official said Ukraine was to blame.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied town of Enerhodar near the plant, blamed Ukraine’s armed forces for the incident, saying they caused a fire in a forest near the plant. He said local towns had lost power for several hours.

He said on Telegram: ‘This was caused by the disconnection of power lines from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station as a result of provocations by Zelenskiy’s fighters. The disconnection itself was triggered by a fire and short circuit on the power lines.’

The state nuclear company said work is underway today to try to reconnect reactors to the grid.

Zaporizhzhia’s other four reactors have been out of action for most of Vladimir Putin’s bombardment of Ukraine.

The plant has a plane crash-proof two-metre thick concrete containment unit and there is an inner steel shell designed to be able to withstand an explosion.

But the chance of missile strikes are said not to have been factored into its protective design, experts warn.

Its six reactor blocks are, however, protected by reinforced concrete domes designed to withstand internal explosions, making a radiation leak more unlikely than at Chernobyl.

When it melted down on April 26, 1986, near the near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union it sparked a radioactive wind and mass radiation poisoning deaths.

An exclusion zone the size of Derbyshire was set up, with more than 500,000 people working to contain it at a cost of at least £60 billion.

A worst-case scenario for Zaporizhzhia is unknown.

The Ministry of Defence released a satellite image dated August 21 showing Russian military vehicles parked by the plant’s fifth reactor.

It identified three armoured personnel carriers and two cargo lorries and said it was evidence Russians were maintaining an ‘enhanced military presence’ at the site.

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