VIENNA: The recent attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war,” the UN atomic agency’s director general said on Thursday.
The attacks “marked a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers in Ukraine,” Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in Vienna.
He spoke at an emergency meeting of the 35 members of the Board of Governors, called by both Russia and Ukraine.
The Zaporizhzhia plant (ZNPP), which Russia has occupied since March 2022, has been hit by a series of drone attacks since Sunday, with Moscow and Kyiv each accusing the other.
They were the first attacks since November 2022 on the plant — once the largest nuclear power station in Europe but which now is not in operation.
“There should be no attack of any kind from or against the plant, in particular targeting the reactors, spent fuel storage, other critical infrastructure, or personnel,” Grossi said.
After the three-and-a-half hour meeting broke up, Russian ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov said it was a “useful meeting” and he “hope(d) that today’s discussion will help the Ukrainian side to stop these dangerous actions.”
Ukraine, on the other hand, denounced a “disinformation campaign” by Moscow, saying in a communique from its permanent mission in Vienna that Russia was simulating attacks to “discredit” Ukraine.
The European Union said in its statement to the meeting that “the latest alarming developments... underscore that Russia’s illegal seizure of the plant significantly increases risks to nuclear safety.”
“Russia must unconditionally, immediately and completely withdraw all its forces and military equipment from the ZNPP and the whole territory of Ukraine,” it said.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the IAEA’s board of governors has adopted four resolutions condemning Russian actions at the plant.
IAEA warns that attacks on Ukraine plant mark new risks in war
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IAEA warns that attacks on Ukraine plant mark new risks in war
- Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the IAEA’s board of governors has adopted four resolutions condemning Russian actions at the plant
Volcanic eruptions may have brought Black Death to Europe, say new study
- Study says volcanic eruptions in 1345 caused temperatures to drop, leading to crop failure and causing famine
- This led Italy to have ships bring grain from central Asia, where the bubonic plague is thought to have first emerged
- The plague killed tens of millions of people and wiped out up to 60 percent of the population in parts of Europe
PARIS: Previously unknown volcanic eruptions may have kicked off an unlikely series of events that brought the Black Death — the most devastating pandemic in human history — to the shores of medieval Europe, new research has revealed.
The outbreak of bubonic plague known as the Black Death killed tens of millions and wiped out up to 60 percent of the population in parts of Europe during the mid-14th century.
How it came to Europe — and why it spread so quickly on such a massive scale — have long been debated by historians and scientists.
Now two researchers studying tree rings have suggested that a volcanic eruption may have been the first domino to fall.
By analizing the tree rings from the Pyrenees mountain range in Spain, the pair established that southern Europe had unusually cold and wet summers from 1345 to 1347.
Comparing climate data with written accounts from the time, the researchers demonstrated that temperatures likely dropped because there was less sunlight following one or more volcanic eruptions in 1345.
The change in climate ruined harvests, leading to failed crops and the beginnings of famine.
Fortunately — or so it seemed — “powerful Italian city states had established long-distance trade routes across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, allowing them to activate a highly efficient system to prevent starvation,” said Martin Bauch, a historian at Germany’s Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe.
“But ultimately, these would inadvertently lead to a far bigger catastrophe,” he said in a statement.
Deadly stowaways
The city states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa had ships bring grain from the Mongols of the Golden Horde in central Asia, which is where the plague is thought to have first emerged.
Previous research has suggested that these grain ships brought along unwelcome passengers: rats carrying fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.
Between 25 and 50 million people are estimated to have died over the next six years.
While the story encompasses natural, demographic, economic and political events in the area, it was ultimately the previously unidentified volcanic eruption that paved the way for one of history’s greatest disasters, the researchers argued.
“Although the coincidence of factors that contributed to the Black Death seems rare, the probability of zoonotic diseases emerging under climate change and translating into pandemics is likely to increase in a globalized world,” study co-author Ulf Buentgen of Cambridge University in the UK said in a statement.
“This is especially relevant given our recent experiences with Covid-19.”
The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday.
