US concerned that disruptions in Ukraine's electricity supply could lead to nuclear accident

Assistant to the US Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Security and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Ann Ganzer reported on this on December 6, Voice of America writes.

"Russia’s attacks have been cutting off external power to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. This is really important. It forces reactors at the plants to go into an emergency shutdown.

Reliable offsite power is essential to the safe operation of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, of any power plant in general. And without that offsite power to cool nuclear fuels, this could lead to a nuclear accident. This is important and these attacks must stop,” said the representative of the US Department of State.

Ganzer believes that the Russian occupiers are deliberately attacking energy infrastructure, which is the largest target for Russian attacks. The US is concerned that Russian missiles and drones are destroying civilian electrical infrastructure across the country, thereby disabling equipment that provides electricity, heat, water and communications to the people of Ukraine. 

The representative of the US State Department called the actions of the Russian Federation unacceptable and a "shameful continuation of Russia's already brutal, unjustified war against Ukraine, especially against the Ukrainian people."

She also emphasized that the US considers the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the energy produced there to be Ukrainian.

"We support the IAEA and Director General Grossi’s efforts to protect that plant. We are very concerned about the saber-rattling, the nuclear saber-rattling. The use of a nuclear weapon would just be beyond the pale. And I think we have been pretty clear about that," she added.

In response to journalists' questions about the explosion of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, Ganzer noted that any energy infrastructure can become the object of a potential attack, and the events in Ukraine show that energy infrastructure in other countries needs to be protected as well.