UN chief urges access to Ukraine nuke plant

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for international inspectors to be given access to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant following the second attack in consecutive days

Zaporizhia (pictured) and three other nuclear power plants together provide about half of Ukraine’s electricity


Chernobyl (shut down)
Kyiv 
UKRAINE
Zaporizhia
Black Sea
RUSSIA
Russian control

200km 125 miles
Nuclear plants


ZAPORIZHIA PLANT FACTFILE

Built: By Soviet Union in 1984

Size: Plant is largest of its kind in Europe and ninth largest in world

Reactors: Total of six. Final one connected to grid in 1995

Production: 5.7 gigawatts – about 20 percent of Ukraine’s electricity

Design: Pressurised water reactor – type considered safer than reactors at Chernobyl


TIMELINE OF WAR IN UKRAINE

Mar 4, 2022: Zaporizhia plant seized by Russian forces. Three reactors already shut down at time of invasion on Feb 24

Mar 12: Officials from Russia’s state-run nuclear power company Rosatom say plant now belongs
to them. Facility still run by Ukrainian technicians

Jul 16: Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accuses Russia of using plant to store and launch weapons

Aug 3: UN nuclear chief issues urgent plea to allow experts to visit site to stabilise situation and avoid nuclear accident

Aug 5: Shells hit high-voltage power line, prompting disconnection of one reactor despite no radiation leak being detected

Aug 6: Shelling damages three radiation sensors and injures one worker at facility


Sources: AP, Business Insider, France 24, Reuters
Picture: Wikimedia 
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