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”
Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino
US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.
Asylum claims
Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.
