The US specialists have not recorded any spikes in radiation readings at the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant, the US Energy Secretary, Jennfier Granholm, confirmed on Friday. Kiev has accused Russian troops of “attacking” the facility after a fire broke out in a nearby building.
“We have seen no elevated radiation readings overnight,” Granholm said in her Twitter “update” on the situation in the Ukrainian city of Energodar. “Safety systems are intact, and reactors continue to receive cooling,” she added.
Separately, a senior Pentagon official has reportedly confirmed to journalists that the situation at the nuclear power plant – the biggest one in Europe – remains under control. “We do not assess any radioactive leakage,” the official said, according to Voice of America National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin. The Pentagon official also said the US has “no reason to doubt” that Russian forces now control the facility.
Granholm has also called on Russia to allow the plant operators to continue their work “safely,” including shift changes at both the Zaporozhskaya plant and in Chernobyl. The US energy secretary still denounced what she called an “appalling” and “reckless” action by Russia and called on President Vladimir Putin to stop the “conflict around nuclear power plants.”
Earlier on Friday, Granholm said that her ministry had scrambled its Nuclear Incident Response Team and was monitoring the situation together with the Pentagon and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as with the White House.