I'm John Batchew with Henry Sikovsky, the Executive Director of the

Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center.

Over these last years, Henry has guided me to understand the Zaporizia remains not only unsolved,

but also unaddressed by authorities, not only in the United States, but also in Europe at the UN,

anywhere they care about the threat of nuclear power plants running amok, that includes if you cut the electricity off.

Explain, Henry, why nuclear power plants need electricity, and what happens if it's cut off?

Nuclear power plants produce heat, and they produce heat as a result of the fissioning of uranium in the core of the

reactor or nuclear plant. You have to make sure that the heat is modulated or kept to a mile

roar because if the heat builds the fuel

inside will melt

and the fission

products will interact

with the water in such a way

that you'll get

possibly a hydrogen

explosion like we saw of Fukushima.

And worst case, worse, there may be the release of radiation outside of the containment

building and people living nearby will have to get their cars and evacuate.

And they may not be able to come back in the worst case.

So you've got to make sure that the water flows over that fuel constantly.

And you do that with pumps that are powered by electricity.

You do not want to rely on the nuclear power plant to produce that electricity.

...