Cooling towers of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station near city Enerhodar, Ukraine Copyright (c) 2021 Ihor Bondarenko/Shutterstock. No use without permission.

Cooling towers of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station near city Enerhodar, Ukraine Copyright (c) 2021 Ihor Bondarenko/Shutterstock. No use without permission.

An incident which took out Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant off the grid on has caused international concern. Luxembourg has expressed concern and supports efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the facility.

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, currently occupied by Russian military forces was disconnected off Ukraine’s power grid on 26 August due to fire damaging overhead power lines. This comes amid increased international concern over continued clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces near the facility. Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky blamed the incident on Russian shelling in an urgent national address while also accusing Russia of putting Europe “one stop away” from a nuclear disaster. One of the power plant’s reactors has been reconnected to the power grid, stated Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom.

United Nations watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has planned a visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant amid the ongoing military tension.

“As every single member state of the European Union, Luxembourg follows with concern the evolving situation around the Zaporizhzhia plant. As a member of the IAEA, Luxembourg supports its Director-General, M. Rafael Grossi, in his efforts to organise an international mission to the plant as soon as possible,” a source from the foreign affairs ministry told Delano.

Grossi stated in that he’s determined to personally lead the mission in the next few days to help stabilise the nuclear safety and ensure security.

On 25 August, US ambassador Bonnie Denise Jenkins, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, spoke about the mounting danger at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, during a press briefing.

“[Russia’s] actions at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant have created a serious risk of a nuclear incident – a dangerous radiation release – that could threaten not only the people and environment of Ukraine, but also affect neighbouring countries and the entire international community,” she said.

Jenkins called on Russia to allow Ukrainian staff working at the plant to fulfill their obligations free from disturbances from its military forces. Russia has previously rejected appeals by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to demilitarise the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, stating that this would make the facility more vulnerable. Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for shelling around the nuclear reactor complex. The Russian military overtook the area around the power plant in March which is still operated by Ukrainian staff and which has been hit by shells multiple times in August.