Power Cut In Chernobyl Nuclear Plant: Ukraine Seeks Ceasefire For Repair

Kyiv: Ukraine voiced concern on Wednesday after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant went off the grid.

Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said the power outage could put at risk systems for cooling nuclear material and called for a ceasefire so that repair work can be carried out urgently.

It’s not yet clear what caused the power disruption.

Emergency generators are supplying power to the plant, but unless electricity is restored within 48 hours, parameters of nuclear and radiation safety cannot be controlled, Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenerho said.

“Reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity to power the Chornobyl NPP. After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent,” the minister wrote on Twitter.

According to Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom, the warming could lead to release of radioactive substances.

“The radioactive cloud could be carried by wind to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe,” Energoatom said in a statement.

Russian forces claimed to have captured the site of world’s worst nuclear disaster four days ago before Ukrainian soldiers wrested control. According to some reports, it was again taken over by Russian troops.

On Tuesday, International Atomic Energy Agency warned that it had lost contact with remote data transmission systems.