International Atomic Energy Agency staff stationed at power plants in Ukraine reported that only two of nine reactors were generating electricity at full capacity on Sunday. According to a statement by the UN nuclear energy watchdog, in other units production was reduced to 40 to 90 percent. power.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the country’s energy infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to attack, which has a direct impact on nuclear security.
Nuclear power plants in Ukraine. Three active power plants under Ukrainian control, one under Russian control / Bloomberg
One of the largest attacks since the beginning of the war
On Sunday, Russia launched one of its largest missile barrages against Ukraine. In total, Kremlin forces fired 210 missiles and drones from bombers and ships – about 120 cruise, ballistic and aeroballistic missiles and 90 dronesreported the Ukrainian Air Force.
As a result of the shelling, substations in the Khmelnytsky Oblast were damaged, where members of the IAEA team heard loud explosions. Another IAEA team reported that high-voltage lines in Rivne were also damaged.
Ukraine has warned that airstrikes on key power substations could trigger an emergency at one of the three operating nuclear power plants still under Kiev’s control.
Critical infrastructure at risk
Substations maintain stability by regulating the transmission of high voltage in power grids. Unlike power plants powered by fossil or renewable fuels, nuclear power plants require a constant flow of electricity to maintain safety systems. No power the nuclear fuel inside the reactor core risks overheating, with potentially catastrophic consequences in the form of a dangerous release of radiation.
Ukraine has thousands of energy substations. But it is at stake ten key nodes connected to nuclear power plants, the destruction of which could plunge the country into darkness and trigger a radiological accidentsaid Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko in an interview with Bloomberg News in September.
