Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

In News: Fighting in Ukraine has put an active nuclear plant at grave risk.

• Repeated shelling inside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant complex over the past seven days has stirred new concerns, with Ukrainian and Western officials warning that the attacks heighten the risk of a nuclear accident.
• Experts have repeatedly raised an alarm over the plant being in an active combat zone.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency has underlined that the current situation poses a grave risk of a nuclear catastrophe.

The site

• Located in southern Ukraine on the banks of Kakhovka reservoir on the Dnipro river, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant is Europe’s largest, and 10th biggest in the world.
• Geographically, the plant is located 200-km from Russia-annexed Crimea, and 500-odd km from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

Russian capture

• Russia captured the plant site in early March and continues to control
• As of now, the plant is run by Ukrainian staff, and ‘guarded’ by Russian troops.
• Kyiv, according to Associated Press, has been planning a counteroffensive to recapture Zaporizhzhia and neighbouring Kherson provinces.
• However, Ukrainian forces controlling the area on the opposite bank from the nuclear plant have repeatedly faced Russian artillery fire from the other side.

Active threat

• Moscow has been accused of using the nuclear plant as a shield to fire rockets to target Ukrainian positions.
• Russia, on the other hand, blames Ukraine for shelling near the plant.
• The threat of a nuclear disaster remains real with the plant housing active reactors and stored nuclear waste.

Global alarm

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that the situation could “lead to disaster”.
• The IAEA has been seeking access to the plant for a while now, and utmost restraint.
• Amid demands to turn the area into a demilitarized zone, the G7 group of nations have called on Russia to immediately exit the plant and hand its control back to Ukraine.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Question

Q.1) Consider the following pairs: (2022)

Region often mentioned in the news: Country.

1. Anatolia: Turkey
2. Amhara: Ethiopia.
3. Cabo Delgado: Spain.
4. Catalonia: Italy.

How many pairs given above are correctly matched?

1. Only one pair
2. Only two pairs
3. Only three pairs
4. All four pairs