Meanwhile, the U.N. nuclear watchdog has lost data transmissions from safety monitoring systems at Chernobyl in what one Ukranian adviser called an ‘extremely dangerous situation.’
Russian forces disconnected the Chernobyl nuclear power plant station from Ukraine’s power grid, according to the state-run grid operator Ukrenergo, prompting concerns about the cooling of nuclear materials at the site.
“Because of military actions of Russian occupiers the nuclear power plant in Chornobyl was fully disconnected from the power grid. The nuclear station has no power supply,” Ukrenergo wrote, using the Ukrainian spelling for the nuclear power plant.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday called for a cease-fire to allow for repairs to the plant.
“I call on the international community to urgently demand Russia to cease fire and allow repair units to restore power supply,” Kuleba tweeted. He said that reserve diesel generators could only power the plant for 48 hours.
“After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent,” he said.
But the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Wednesday said that it “sees no critical impact on safety,” noting that the plant has a sufficient volume of cooling water to control temperatures without electricity.
And an analysis from the U.S. Department of Energy concurred that “the loss of power does not pose a near-term risk of radiological release,” according to the head of the agency.
Still, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the development “violates [a] key safety pillar on ensuring uninterrupted power supply.”
And it’s not the only developing problem at the nuclear plant. The watchdog announced on Tuesday that it lost data transmissions from safety monitoring systems at Chernobyl.
“The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon,” it said in a press release.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called the development an “extremely dangerous situation.”
“At the moment no one understands what is happening in Chornobyl and what is threatening the region,” Podolyak tweeted.
Additionally, more than 200 technical personnel and guards have been working at the plant since Russia took it over last month, “in effect living there for the past 13 days,” according to the IAEA. The staff had access to food and water, but the situation was worsening, according to officials, who called on the watchdog to develop a plan to replace the workers.
The plant was the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident in 1986, which has been linked to the deaths of an estimated 4,000 people. It was under the control of the Soviet Union at the time.