Why blackouts are dangerous to Ukraine’s nuclear sites
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is increasingly threatening the vital connections between Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and the electric grid. The nuclear sites rely on outside electricity to keep critical safety systems running — but those links are fraying as reports come in about power lines damaged during the conflict.
Fuel at nuclear sites generates tremendous heat. Without cooling systems, which typically rely on an external power source to run, that fuel could melt down and catastrophically release radioactive materials. There are several layers of backup systems that would need to fail for such a worst-case scenario to go down. But fighting and power losses in Ukraine have experts increasingly worried about the country’s nuclear…
