Ukraine's energy minister says power has been restored at Chernobyl nuclear plant.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. You're welcome.

They are apparently still working on it though (there were apparently 2 lines damaged and both were brought up but then one went down again) -

Efforts continue to restore power to Chernobyl
14 March 2022

The head of Ukraine’s Energoatom told the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sunday that power could be restored to Chernobyl after workers fixed the damaged power line - but on Monday Ukraine's energy company reported it was damaged again "before the power supply was fully restored".


Emergency generators have been providing power at Chernobyl (Image: Chernobyl NPP)

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin had told him on Sunday that specialists had fixed one of two damaged lines to the plant so it would be able to deliver the required power to the site. The IAEA said that the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) confirmed on Sunday evening that the power line was fixed and Chernobyl was ready to be reconnected to the grid on Monday.

However in an update on Monday, Ukrainian energy firm Ukrenergo said that "before the power supply was full restored" to Chernobyl and the city of Slavutych, it was damaged again. It was not clear if all the external power supply to the plant had been lost again, but called for "unimpeded and quick access of Ukrenergo repair crews to these lines for inspections and repairs".

The initial news that the power line had been fixed was welcomed by the IAEA's Grossi on Sunday evening as a "positive development as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has had to rely on emergency diesel generators for several days". "However, I remain gravely concerned about safety and security at Chernobyl and Ukraine’s other nuclear facilities," he added.

SNRIU said it was closely monitoring the situation in the Chernobyl exclusion zone ahead of the annual "fire season" when spontaneous fires often occur in the area, still contaminated by radioactive material from the 1986 accident, the IAEA said.

(snip)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Efforts-continue-to-restore-power-to-Chernobyl

Just to get an idea - here is a map showing the boundaries of the exclusion zone (part of it extends into Belarus) -





Showing a closer view to distinguish the Belarus side of it -



And like parts of the U.S., including here in the Midatlantic area (particularly the NJ Pine Barrens), there is a seasonal "wildfire" ( "brush fire" here) season, where large swaths of open land with weeds and brush, can get abnormally dry with the onset of prevailing winds at this time of year, and any sparks can set the fires going. And in the case of Chernobyl, the exclusion zone contains areas with those types of open brush field conditions, some in viewing distance of the plant.

For example one that raged last year - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/13/ukraine-wildfires-close-chernobyl-nuclear-site



Now if you have Russian troops occupying that area like they are now, what happens if a wildfire starts in another month or so? Are the Russians going to fight it? Are they going to let the Ukrainians do that (where like here, they use aircraft to do overhead fire suppression)?