Nuclear technology

Ukraine's atomic power operator said Sunday that the last reactor at Europe's largest nuclear power plant has been shut down after the plant was reconnected to the electricity grid.

The head of the pro-Russian administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevhen Balytskyi, said today that it is possible that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be shut down.
The reason, he says, is the constant shelling of the Ukrainian army.

The U.N.'s atomic watchdog called on Sept. 7 for a security zone to be set up around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russia, as the area was hit by more shelling.

Russian troops seized control of the plant - Europe's biggest atomic facility - in March and there have been repeated attacks in the vicinity, sparking fears of a nuclear disaster.

A U.N. inspection team entered Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Sept. 1 on a mission to safeguard it against catastrophe, reaching the site amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces that prompted the shutdown of one reactor and underscored the urgency of the task.

The news was confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
IAEA director Rafael Grossi announced that a team of experts, which he personally leads, arrived in Kyiv on Monday evening, on their way to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, where they are scheduled to conduct an inspection from Wednesday to Saturday, the Guardian reports.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Energoatom warned of a high risk of radiation leakage from the Zaporizhzhia NPP after Russian shelling

The Ukrainian state company "Energoatom" warned of an extremely high risk of radiation leakage from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant due to Russian artillery fire.

All the eyes of the world are focused on the largest nuclear power plant on the soil of Europe - Zaporizhzhia, which is controlled by Russian forces. If "something breaks", the consequences will be enormous.

"The protection system has been raised to a higher level, I cannot reveal the details. We expect today to be fully prepared because everything can be expected from the Zelensky regime," said the representative of the regional administration, Vladimir Rogov.

Recently, the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia has also been threatened, while accusations of attacks come from both sides.

The video shows a cloud of smoke coming from the direction of the power plant, according to eyewitnesses.
Reuters writes that the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, therefore proposed that the power plant in Zaporizhzhia declare part of the area around it a demilitarized zone.