French President Emmanuel Macron has said Russia could plan to disconnect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from Ukraine’s power grid, backing warnings from Ukraine’s own nuclear power company.
Macron spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and said the call was necessary because of the urgent nuclear threat to Europe. Putin agreed to consider allowing an International Atomic Energy Agency mission to travel to the plant from Ukrainian territory, Macron said.
Ukrainian nuclear firm Energoatom said on Friday it fears Russia plans to shut down operating power units at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which in normal times provides about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.
Russia has controlled the plant since March, although it is still run by Ukrainian scientists. If it stopped generating electricity, its technicians would have to rely on backup power systems to continue cooling the nuclear reactors, increasing the risk of accidents.
“The Russian military is looking for fuel suppliers for diesel generators, which must be turned on after the shutdown of the electric units and in the absence of external power for nuclear fuel cooling systems,” he said Energoatom.
Western officials said they were concerned about whether water cooling could be maintained, amid accusations that the site is not being properly maintained by the invaders. “[It is] a situation we should all be watching very closely,” said one source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A loss of power supply led to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. Main power was lost in an earthquake, a tsunami that followed overwhelmed standby generators, and a lack of cooling caused a partial meltdown of the reactor
Russia has controlled the plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, since March and has stationed troops and military equipment there, prompting urgent calls for it to be demilitarized, including from the UN and NATO.
The Western official said the fight around the plant was considered a lower risk than a cooling failure, because nuclear reactors are designed to withstand a relatively strong impact, including that of a passenger plane.
On Friday, Putin renewed Russian accusations that Ukraine was bombing the site, saying in the phone call with Macron that it could lead to “a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radiation contamination of large territories,” the Kremlin said in a communicated
Ukrainian military intelligence had warned this week that Moscow appeared to be planning a “provocation” at the plant, and Energoatom also expressed concern about unusual activity.
On Friday, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Russia closed the Zaporizhzhia site to most personnel, apart from those operating the power units, he said Energoatom.
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Energoatom also accused Russia of bombing parts of the plant complex in false flag attacks that Moscow blamed on Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s Western allies have warned that any nuclear incident would prompt a swift response.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons defense select committee, said on Friday that any nuclear accident at the site risks bringing NATO into war.
“Let’s be clear now: ANY deliberate damage causing a potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a violation of NATO Article 5,” he said on Twitter.
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However, even if the reactors remain intact, Russia may plan to weaponize the plant simply by shutting it down. With winter approaching and Ukraine already worried about gas supplies, the offline plant could be detrimental to the economy and people’s ability to stay warm.
The power it provides would have to be generated at other plants, using limited supplies of natural gas and other fuels, or the country could face blackouts. And excess heat from the plant is key to district heating systems.
The governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Oleksandr Starukh, has said that if the plant were to go offline, it would leave many of the city’s 700,000 residents without heat during Ukraine’s bitter winter.
“The city’s heating system is supplied by the nuclear power plant. So if they turn it off, there’s no way to warm up [our buildings]” he told the Guardian in June. “It’s just a big problem.”
Making a major change to the operations of a nuclear power plant in wartime is dangerous in itself, a senior Ukrainian energy official said. “The problem with Russia is that they are so reckless,” said Yuriy Vitrenko, chairman of gas company Naftogaz, who called Russia’s actions “insane.”
“The nuclear regulator would normally need you to test something to prove it’s absolutely safe … it’s not like you can’t experiment with a nuclear power plant. And what they’re doing now is really against all the rules.”
He said Russia did not fully understand the plant, which is from the Soviet era but has been extensively modernized. That meant the Russian regulator and Russian engineers weren’t completely up to speed on how it works, he said.
“They can come and see, but again, it’s not their plant, so they don’t know everything they need to know about how it works and what can and should be done with that plant,” he said.
Artem Mazhulin contributed reporting to this story