Allow 'emergency responders' access to Ukraine nuclear site: Joe Biden urges Russia
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
"President Biden joined President Zelensky in urging Russia to cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site," a White House readout of a call between the two leaders said.US President Biden also spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to receive an update on the fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is also Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Biden also spoke with the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security of the US Department of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to receive an update on the situation at the plant. The President will continue to be briefed regularly, the White House said.Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the facility and had set fire to one of its six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said. The attack renewed fears that the invasion could result in damage to one of Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors and trigger another emergency like the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world's worst nuclear disaster, which happened about 110 kilometres (65 miles) north of the capital.The American Nuclear Society condemned the attack but said the latest radiation levels remained within natural background levels. “The real threat to Ukrainian lives continues to be the violent invasion and bombing of their country,” the group said in a statement from President Steven Nesbit and Executive Director and CEO Craig Piercy. The plant's reactor is a different type than the one used at Chernobyl, and there should be a little risk if the containment vessel is not damaged and outside power can be restored, said Jon B. Wolfsthal, a former senior director for arms control and non-proliferation at the National Security Council and former special adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden.