|
|
The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a statement on Friday that identified the seriousness of the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant that has been under attack in recent weeks during the Ukraine War.
The IAEA said the “continued shelling” of the facility has damaged the power infrastructure. Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power company, said it will power down the plant’s final working reactor to prevent a meltdown, The Associated Press reported.
Ukraine has blamed Russian forces for targeting its largest nuclear facility in Zaporizhzhya, a city on the Dnieper River in southeastern Ukraine, and raising the prospects of a nuclear disaster. Moscow blamed pro-Ukrainian forces for attacking the facility occupied by Russian forces.
The plant is the largest in Europe and the facility has been controlled by the Russians since the early days of the war, but it is being operated by Ukrainian staff.
Petro Kotin, Energoatom chief, told the AP that the company is trying to keep the facility “running as much as possible, but eventually it will have to be shut down and then the station will switch to diesel generators.”
He said it is the “station’s last defense before a radiation accident.”
Rafael Grossi, the IAEA’s head, warned that “something very, very catastrophic could take place” and both countries should work to create a “security protection zone.”
The State Department agreed with the IAEA and urged Russia and Ukraine to establish a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
The Trends Journal has reported on the worsening situation around the plant. Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian President and now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said last month that Western and Ukrainian officials are actively seeking another Chernobyl-like disaster in Ukraine. (See “CHERNOBYL 2.0. RUSSIA ACCUSES UKRAINE OF ATTACKING NUKE PLANT” and “RUSSIA WINNING UKRAINE WAR, STILL NO TALK OF PEACE FROM ZELENSKY.”)
“The scumbags in Kiev and their Western backers seem to be ready to stage another Chernobyl,” Medvedev posted on Telegram. “Rockets and shells are falling ever closer to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant’s reactors and radioactive isotope storage facilities.”
The IAEA said in a statement that the situation is “unsustainable” and “becoming increasingly precarious.”
“Enerhodar (a nearby town) has gone dark. The power plant has no offsite power. And we have seen that once infrastructure is repaired, it is damaged once again. This is completely unacceptable. It cannot stand,” the statement read.
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has warned that the longer the Ukraine War is allowed to go on, the closer the world inches towards a major catastrophe.
We have been opposed to Putin’s decision to invade the country, but, unlike the willfully ignorant Western media, we identified reasons why Russia invaded. The attacks on the nuclear power plant are just another example of the risks to the world as the war drags on.
We have noted that Ukraine would have been forced to negotiate with Russia months ago if not for the multi-billion-dollar weapon flows from the West and billions in funding to prop up the economically broke and busted Kyiv government.
Gerald Celente has said the West is fighting more than a proxy war with Russia. It is, by its money and weapons transfers into Ukraine, “an accessory to the crime.”
The plant is now considered to be in a “cold state,” which means it was removed from the power grid and is running on “island mode.” The plant will operate using “diesel generators,” Al Jazeera reported.