A Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, south-eastern Ukraine, on May 1. AP
A Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, south-eastern Ukraine, on May 1. AP
A Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, south-eastern Ukraine, on May 1. AP
A Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, south-eastern Ukraine, on May 1. AP

Risks at Ukrainian nuclear plant increase 'every day'


Soraya Ebrahimi
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The mayor of the city that is home to Europe's largest nuclear plant on Sunday said the risk of disaster there is "increasing every day", after Ukraine and Russia exchanged blame for shelling around the complex.

Russian troops have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant in south-eastern Ukraine since March, and Kyiv has accused Moscow of basing hundreds of soldiers and storing weapons there.

The nuclear plant has come under fire repeatedly in the past week, raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

"What is happening there is outright nuclear terrorism and it can end unpredictably at any moment," Dmytro Orlov, the Mayor of Energodar city, told AFP from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.

Mr Orlov said there was mortar shelling on the plant "every day and night".

"The situation is hazardous and what causes the most concern is that there is no de-escalation process," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously accused Russia of nuclear "blackmail" and using the plant to "intimidate people in an extremely cynical way".

Mr Zelenskyy has said Russian troops were "hiding" behind the plant to stage bombings on the Ukrainian-controlled towns of Nikopol and Marganets.

But pro-Moscow officials in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia blamed the shelling on Ukrainian forces.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant attacked - in pictures

Missiles fell "in the areas located on the banks of the Dnipro river and in the plant", said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed administration, without reporting any casualties or damage.

The river divides the areas occupied by Russia and those under Ukraine's control.

Mr Orlov said that over the past 24 hours, Energodar, which he left at the end of April, was shelled for the first time, leading to a dramatic increase in those hoping to flee.

Amid safety fears, he warned that in the "near future" there may not be enough personnel to manage the station.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over several rounds of shelling on the plant this month, with the strikes raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

In the village of Vyshchetarasivka, on the opposite bank of the Dnipro to the plant, resident Viktor Shabanin said the latest developments had left people "nervous".

"Often the wind blows in our direction. So the radiation will go immediately to us, and the radiation will go into the water," said Mr Shabanin, 57.

UN chief: 'Humanity one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation' - video

There were air raid sirens and distant strikes on Sunday but reported no new fighting around the plant, AFP reported.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting over the situation on Thursday and warned of a "grave" crisis unfolding in Zaporizhzhia.

The alarm has revived painful memories of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster — the world's worst nuclear accident — in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, spreading radioactive dust and ash across Europe.

Anastasiya Rudenko, 63, believes her late husband, who worked to decontaminate the Chernobyl disaster zone, died of bladder cancer in 2014 because of radiation.

"We could have the same fate as the people of Chernobyl," Ms Rudenko told AFP.

"There's nothing good in what's going on and we don't know how it will end."

Backed by western allies, Ukraine has called for a demilitarised zone around the plant and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Russian troops trying to press their offensive near the Dnipro in the southern Kherson region are under pressure after strategically important bridges were damaged, a Ukrainian politician said on Sunday.

Regional legislator Sergiy Khlan said the pontoons the Russians were using could not fully meet their needs and that command centres were being moved as they were at risk of being cut off from supplies.

Ukraine crisis latest - in pictures

In his daily address on Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy backed the idea of a blanket ban by the EU on visas for all Russian travellers, currently being considered by the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency for the bloc.

"The discussion … is expanding every day," he said. "New states and new politicians are joining it. Ultimately, this should lead to appropriate decisions."

Mr Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian Parliament would make a decision "in the near future" on extending martial law.

A major consequence of the war has been soaring food prices after a Russian naval blockade and Kyiv's mining of its ports prevented Ukrainian grain from being sold on global markets.

A landmark deal last month between Russia and Ukraine brokered by Turkey and the UN created safe corridors to allow key grain exports to resume.

Kyiv on Sunday said the first UN-chartered vessel carrying grain from Ukraine to relieve the global food crisis was loaded with 23,000 tonnes of wheat and ready to depart.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the MV Brave Commander, in the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi, will head to Africa with the cargo.

What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. 

 

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest

Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.

Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.

Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.

Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.

Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.

Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia

Updated: August 15, 2022, 3:34 AM`