VIENNA: Work has started to repair damaged power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after a lengthy outage, following the establishment of local ceasefire zones, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday.
The site, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, lost its connection to the grid on September 23 for the tenth time — marking the longest outage of external power supply to the facility since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Repairs to the off-site power lines began after the “establishment of local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed,” Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a post on X.
The IAEA said that both sides had worked with the agency to allow the “complex repair plan” to proceed.
“Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security,” it said.
The agency did not indicate how long the work would take. It has previously said repairs are needed on both sides of the front line, several kilometers from the plant.
Both Russia and Ukraine confirmed the repair works were ongoing.
Since the outage, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe has been powered by backup diesel generators. The IAEA says safety has been maintained with reactors continuing to be effectively cooled.
Located near the city of Enerhodar along the Dnieper River, the nuclear plant is close to the front line.
Its six reactors, which produced about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the war, were shut down after Moscow took control.
However, the plant needs electricity to maintain its cooling and safety systems to prevent a disaster.
At the beginning of October, Moscow claimed that the situation was “under control” in Zaporizhzhia following concerns raised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear disaster by attacking the site and have blamed each other for the latest power outage.
Work begins to repair Ukraine nuclear plant’s power lines
https://arab.news/2nna6
Work begins to repair Ukraine nuclear plant’s power lines
- IAEA said that both sides had worked with the agency to allow the “complex repair plan” to proceed
- “Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security”
Macron vows stronger cooperation with Nigeria after mass kidnappings
- Macron wrote on X that France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations”
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that France will step up cooperation with Nigeria after speaking with his counterpart, as the West African country faces a surge in abductions.
Nigeria has been wracked by a wave of kidnappings in recent weeks, including the capture of over 300 school children two weeks ago that shook Africa’s most populous country, already weary from chronic violence.
Macron wrote on X that the move came at Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s request, saying France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations,” while urging other countries to “step up their engagement.”
“No one can remain a spectator” to what is happening in Nigeria, the French president said.
Nigeria has drawn heightened attention from Washington in recent weeks, after US President Donald Trump said in November that the United States was prepared to take military action there to counter the killing of Christians.
US officials, while not contradicting Trump, have since instead emphasized other US actions on Nigeria including security cooperation with the government and the prospect of targeted sanctions.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants.
The religiously diverse country is the scene of a number of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
Many scholars say the reality is more nuanced, with conflicts rooted in struggles for scarce resources rather than directly related to religion.
