The forced shutdown of Ukraine’s endangered and crippled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — significantly reduces the risk of a radiation disaster that has haunted the world for weeks.
The last of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant’s six nuclear reactors was shut down Sunday because Russia’s military actions in Ukraine had repeatedly cut reliable external power supplies. That power is needed to prevent the reactors from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could breach the surrounding concrete and steel containment buildings and spew radiation through Ukraine, Russia and other nearby countries.
