The Ukrainian government has announced that there was an accident at the nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine near the city of Enerhodar in the Ukrainian province of Zaporizhzhya. The biggest nuclear power plant in Europe suffered a short circuit which caused a loss of power from one of the six units at the plant. The one gigabyte nuclear power reactor was not threatened by the accident and the authorities say that there was no threat to the public. The reactor has been disconnected from the Ukrainian electrical grid but is still functioning normally and producing power. The reactor will be reconnected to the grid and return to normal service on December 5, 2014.
The Ukrainian government has expressed concerns that their fifteen nuclear reactors could potentially become a casualty of the current civil war. They said that they feared that some group might try to occupy a nuclear power plant where they might be attacked by their opposition, that plant operators might flee if fighting came close, or that a nuclear power plant might be accidentally or intentionally shelled or bombed by one side of the dispute.
Last May, 20 armed members of the neo-Nazi Right Sector party tried to occupy the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant claiming that they were afraid that the Separatists might seize control of the city. The Right Sector members were arrested by the police. This particular event illustrates that the Ukrainian concern for the safety of their nuclear power plants is definitely warranted.
Ukraine was energy self-sufficient in the past but since the beginning of the civil war, the Separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of east Ukraine have shut sixty six coal mines which has caused a shortfall of electric power prompting the government to issue calls for conservation. The loss of the power from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear reactor does not help their power situation.
The province of Zaporizhzhya shares a border with the province of Donetsk which is one of the two provinces that recently held referendums about their relationship with the government in Kiev and expressed interest in crafting a closer relationship with Russia. If the Russians decide that they would like to have a land route to Crimea which they recently annexed, that land route would have to go through Zaporizhzhya.
Ukraine is in an awkward situation with respect to their nuclear power reactors. Russia helped them build those reactors and provided fuel rods. Ukraine did try to put new fuel rods from Westinghouse into one of their Russian reactors but the new rods did not fit. Ukraine is working with Westinghouse to solve the problems because, at this time, Russia is backing the Separatists and may not be interested in selling new fuel rods to Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant:
