The primary signal of hazard got here when the dwindling crew of Ukrainian technicians working the Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power station seen that officers from Russia’s state atomic power firm had left the premises with out clarification. It was Aug. 5, and Russian troopers have been patrolling the ability.
Then, at 2:40 p.m., explosions rocked {an electrical} switchboard, triggering the shutdown of one among solely two remaining energy strains working from the plant into southern Ukraine, in line with plant staff. Outdoors, smoke billowed from a crater a couple of hundred yards from a substation; inside, technicians raced to verify the backup diesel mills that will be wanted to chill nuclear gas prone to overheating in an accident.
