Experts fear fighting could cut power needed to cool the reactors and cause a meltdown. Read more at straitstimes.com.
LONDON – Russian military forces have been enhancing defensive positions in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, ahead ofNew trenches have been dug around the city and more mines have been laid. Surveillance cameras at the plant are pointing north across a wide reservoir towards Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom said any possible military action by Ukraine posed a threat to nuclear safety, and that the plant’s equipment was being maintained properly. But there is concern in the international community that the six-reactor nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, could be caught up in fighting, particularly as military analysts expect Ukraine to try to push Russian forces back in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Mr Kotin said the biggest threat to safety at the plant was that fighting could cut the last remaining external power line needed to cool the plant’s reactors. When that goes down, only backup diesel generators stand in the way of a meltdown. While the troop buildup and extra defences point to occupying forces digging in, there are also signs that the Russians have one eye on the exit.
Mr Kotin said Russian forces would have to retreat if it looked like that road was going to be cut off. Ukraine has announced plans to conduct a big push to recapture occupied land soon, and it is widely expected to strike in the south because of its strategic importance as a bridge to Crimea and the Black Sea.
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