‘One day our luck will run out’ – Ukrainian nuclear plant in sixth near-miss after latest attack

Officials in the part of the Zaporizhzhia region that is occupied by Russia called it a “provocation” by Kyiv.

The incident renewed fears of an accident at Europe’s largest atomic power station, nearly four decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, but national grid operator Ukrenergo signalled that repairs had been carried out quickly.

“Specialists of Ukrenergo have restored the power supply of the Zaporizhzhia NPP [nuclear power plant], which was interrupted by today’s missile strikes,” it said in a statement.

“The ZNPP is switching from diesel generators to receiving electricity for its own needs from the unified energy system of Ukraine.”

Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of compromising safety by shelling the site of the plant, forcing power cuts during air strikes and flouting safety measures.

Russia has denied shelling the site, and has accused Ukraine of being behind the shelling.

“The risks of disaster at the Zaporizhzhia NPP are significantly increasing and our ability to react to them, to avoid them, are significantly decreasing,” Oleh Korikov, acting chairman of the Ukrainian state nuclear safety watchdog, told a news briefing yesterday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, also expressed alarm after confirming the back-up generators had kicked in.

Calling for a protection zone around the plant, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, the man who heads up the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said in a chastening address to colleagues about Zaporizhzhia: “What are we doing?

“How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on.”

He also told the watchdog’s board of governors: “Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time, then one day our luck will run out.”

Experts say that after shelling has damaged the plant at least six times, it is still teetering on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe.

---