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Ukraine’s state run nuclear company says electricity supplies to the former power plant at Chernobyl have been cut and has warned that radioactive substances could be released, because spent nuclear fuel cannot be cooled.
In a post of the telegram messaging app, Energoatom says a high-voltage line feeding the plant was disconnected after it was damaged during Russia’s seizure of the station nearly two weeks ago.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko told the BBC that Ukraine has no access to monitoring information at the station and therefore cannot evaluate whether any radioactive substances are being released.
“We need to repair it as quickly as we can,” Galushchenko said. But he added that there is “a special system of security in case of electricity cuts” which will allow the plant to operate for several days using diesel generators.
Earlier, the IAEA said it had stopped receiving monitoring data from the plant and warned that Ukrainian authorities had told them the plant’s staff of about 210 workers have been on duty constantly for the past two weeks.