The power line supplying the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been damaged by Russian forces just a day after it was repaired, Ukraine’s state power company has claimed.
Ukrenergo said that its technicians had started to supply power Sunday evening but “before the power supply was fully restored, the occupying forces damaged it again”.
The company said it would attempt another repair but could not give a timeframe for when the power line would be fixed.
Last week, the plant suffered a blackout after being cut from Ukraine’s state energy grid following fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops.
Electricity is needed at the site to power pumps which move water to keep nuclear fuel rods cool.
Energoatom, which operates all four nuclear power stations in Ukraine, said the situation could cause radioactive substances to be released into the air.
In a statement last week, the firm warned that the warming of the pumps could lead to "the release of radioactive substances into the environment”.
They also claimed that, without power, ventilation systems at the plant would also stop working – exposing staff to dangerous doses of radiation.
Ukraine’s energy minister German Gulashenko said on Sunday: “Ukrainian energy engineers, by risking their own health and lives, were able to avert the risk of a possible nuclear catastrophe that threatened the whole of Europe.”
However the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has played down concerns over the safety of nuclear waste at the site, saying that cooling ponds there are enough to keep the spent fuel in a safe condition even if the power supply is interrupted.
Ukrainian officials told the UN’s nuclear watchdog on Sunday that staff at the Chernobyl plant were exhausted and could not make further repairs.
The IAEA said: “The Ukrainian regulator informed the IAEA that staff at (Chernobyl) were no longer carrying out repair and maintenance of safety-related equipment, in part due to their physical and psychological fatigue after working non-stop for nearly three weeks.”
There are more than 2,000 staff working at Chernobyl, which is no longer active but requires constant maintenance to prevent nuclear disaster.
The Kremlin has been criticised for repeatedly targeting nuclear facilities in the country.
Just last week, the world’s nuclear safety watchdog announced it had lost contact with the captured Zaporizhzhia power plant and could not access data from the site after it was seized by Russian forces.
Fifteen UN envoys expressed “grave concern” after the shelling of the plant earlier this month.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said last Saturday that nuclear facilities “cannot become part of this conflict”.
She added: “Reliable electricity is vital for the nuclear facility, as are back-up diesel generators and fuel. Safe transit corridors must be maintained.”
