Why Does Russia Want Ukraine’s Nuclear Power Plants? WSU Expert Weighs In

Russian forces try to take control of Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant. Photo Credit: AP

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Russian forces now control the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Why do they want it?

Anjan Bose of Washington State University is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was a senior advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy during the Obama Administration.

He’s not surprised that the Russians have taken control of both Chernobyl and a working nuclear power plant that feeds into Ukraine’s grid. He says if the Russians were looking to destroy the entire country they’d be crippling the grid.

 “And if in fact if you think about other wars – even in recent years – limited wars, one of the things they go for first is taking out transmission lines, taking out substations, just by blowing them up.” 

Bose adds the United States needs to continue working on its grid resiliency against cyber attacks and threats from increasingly severe storms.

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