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Chernobyl plant disconnected from power grid; Ukraine demands cease-fire for urgent repairs

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said earlier it had lost contact with monitoring systems that transmit key data from Chernobyl

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Updated March 9, 2022 at 12:48 p.m. EST|Published March 9, 2022 at 5:29 a.m. EST
A Soviet-era radar system, once used as part of an early-warning missile defense network, stands behind a sign warning of radioactivity at Chernobyl in 2018. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
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Ukraine’s closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been disconnected from the nation’s power grid by Russian forces, Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo said Wednesday, potentially jeopardizing the cooling of nuclear material stored at the site.

“Because of military actions of Russian occupiers the nuclear power plant in Chornobyl was fully disconnected from the power grid. Nuclear station has no power supply,” Ukrenergo said in a statement on its official Telegram page, using Ukraine’s spelling for the plant.