Ukraine nuclear fears

RUSSIA'S sustained bombardment of Ukraine's power grid is deepening concerns about the safety of the country's nuclear facilities after a drone knocked out power for more than three hours to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in northern Ukraine, officials said.

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The drone strike adds to concerns raised more than a week ago when the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine became disconnected from the power grid following attacks that each side has blamed on the other.

Both Chernobyl and Zapor-izhzhia are not operational, but they require a constant power supply to run crucial cooling systems for spent fuel rods in order to avoid a potential nuclear incident.