Russia-Ukraine war: Chernobyl nuclear plant reconnected to national power grid

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was reconnected to the national electricity grid after the site lost its power last Wednesday, informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday. Stating that the Ukrainian expert teams were able to repair one of the damaged power lines connecting the plant to the power network over the weekend, it said that the site has also started receiving all the necessary power from the repaired line. 

Issuing a statement on the same, the UN nuclear watchdog Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi also informed that the plant is no longer relying on the emergency diesel generators for power which they had been using since March 9 after the site lost all the power. While the site has also started supplying electricity to the nearby city of Slavutich, it still continues to remain unclear whether it will be possible to repair the second high-voltage power line. 

Meanwhile, the Russian forces took control of the Chernobyl power plant on February 24 as a part of their ongoing military aggression in Ukraine, and since the staff has been continuing to manage day-to-day operations at the site where its radioactive waste management facilities are located.

Chernobyl staff members continue to work without rotational shifts

Since then, the site's 211 technical personnel and guards have not been able to rotate shifts and have been living without food and water for the past three weeks. IAEA Director-General Grossi while stating that they were working “under enormous stress without the necessary rest” said there is no information whether and when a shift change would be possible. This is similar to the case of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant which remains in the control of the Russian forces since March 4.

Meanwhile, in regards to the safeguarding, the agency said that the situation remains unchanged as was reported last week as it is still not receiving any remote data transmission from its monitoring system at Chernobyl power plant, but such data was being transferred to IAEA headquarters from the other NPPs in Ukraine.

Image: AP