According to Ukraine, Russian forces have switched off the power at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
After Russian forces shut off the power supply at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear reactor, Ukrainian authorities warned that a “radioactive cloud” may be blown over Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of Europe.
A high-voltage power line to the plant had been broken “due to damage by the occupants,” making it difficult to cool some 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at the site of the world’s worst-ever nuclear disaster, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom said in a Telegram message.
Energoatom warned that if the spent nuclear fuel warms up, it might result in “the leakage of radioactive substances into the environment.”
The wind might carry the radioactive cloud to other parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe.” In a previous statement, the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that it had lost touch with the Chernobyl site.
The site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, which is still radioactive, is around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Kyiv.
According to Reuters, the reactor’s fourth reactor blew in April 1986 following a botched safety test, sending radioactive clouds sweeping across most of Europe.