Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Russian-Held Nuclear Plant Disconnects from Power Grid Twice; California to Ban Sales of Gas-Powered Cars by 2035; Deadly Year for Migrants Crossing U.S. Border; Djokovic Missing U.S. Open over Vaccine Travel Restrictions; Serena Williams to Face Danka Kovinic in U.S. Open. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 25, 2022 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the same time, the head of the nuclear agency told CNN, told me just a couple of days ago he was worried the trucks stored by the Russians in the turbine hauler were carrying explosives and, therefore, a fire in the turbine haul spreading to a reactor could also cause a meltdown.

This is exciting, has been exciting the international community for some time -- Bianna?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: That plant provides about 20 percent of Ukraine's electricity for now.

Sam Kiley, thank you.

Joining us now is national security expert, Joe Cirincione. He specializes in nuclear security.

Joe, thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, based on what's being reported -- and there's still a lot we don't know. As we mentioned, this plant is now under control of the Russians. It's "he said/he said."

But what alarms you the most, given what we do know?

JOE CIRINCIONE, NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT: Thank you, Bianna. Sam really covered it. Let me just deepen a little bit what he said.

You have a double-barrel threat here. On the one hand, the cutoff of the electricity going out of the plant immediately impacts life in Ukraine.

As you say, at full capacity, this is 20 percent of Ukraine's electricity. So you're going to see a cutoff of people for refrigeration, for lights, pumping water, et cetera.

But the greater risk is the cutoff of electricity going into the plant risks the catastrophic failure of the key systems cooling the two remaining operating reactors. As Sam said, that could result in a nuclear meltdown if the backup

diesel reactors fail. Fortunately, there's still, as I understand it, an operating link to a local geothermal power supply.

All this is very tenuous. The idea that this plant is depending day to day on the electric supply in a war zone is a dooms-day scenario.

GOLODRYGA: I had an expert on yesterday who believed that -- he viewed Russia's control over all of this as Russia's attempt at blackmailing Ukraine and cutting off its access to electricity, like I said, some 20 percent.

My question to you is, if we've seen Russia do this now, if that is their motive, could this be a precursor of what we can expect to see in the weeks and months ahead? And how dangerous is that, turning power off and on?

CIRINCIONE: Yes. This is an ongoing catastrophe. The water is getting hotter and hotter. It wouldn't take much to tip this over into a full- fledged nuclear catastrophe.

Remember, Vladimir Putin has three goals here. One is to terrorize the people of Ukraine and the West by this nuclear catastrophe. It's the continuation of the kind of nuclear terrorism he's instigated since the beginning of this war, threatening nuclear disaster.

Number two, he wants to pummel and punish the people of Ukraine, cutting off their electricity, making life miserable for them, trying to convince them to surrender, to cease resisting his invasion.

Number three, we know there are Russian plans to steal the entire electric output of this plant. They want to cut off permanently the connection to the Ukrainian electric grid and switch it over and have this plant supply electricity to Russia.

They want to annex this plant just as they do portions of Ukraine.

This is a triple threat and it's getting worse day by day.

GOLODRYGA: At the very least, it is so reckless on the part of the Russians, who should know better given what happened in that same country 36 years ago, and that is the meltdown at Chernobyl.

Joe Cirincione, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

CIRINCIONE: Thank you, Bianna.

We'll continue to follow the story.

[13:33:36]

But ahead, California plans to shift gas-powered cars into reverse permanently. The state is set to ban sales by the year 2035. What this means in the fight against climate change. And is your state next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:38:40]

GOLODRYGA: California is on the verge of passing a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars. The regulations would require the state to phase out selling all new cars that aren't zero emissions by 2035.

CNN's Chris Nguyen is in Los Angeles.

Chris, tell us more about this, these new rules.

CHRIS NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The California Air Resource Board is meeting right now. And they're expected to make the ban official later this afternoon.

But keep in mind, this isn't going to happen overnight. The state has set up some benchmarks that they hope car dealers will meet. This applies the only new vehicle sales in California.

Taking a look at the numbers, the goal is to have 35 percent of new vehicle sales be zero emission by 2026. The numbers then go up, the targets go up each year until 2035.

Now, recently a board official told CNN that the car companies, the car manufacturers didn't provide much pushback when told about these proposed changes.

So giving us some indication that they are on board with these changes. They're adjusting, they're adapting and they're embracing what is to come potentially here in the Golden State.

Now, we spoke to the California New Dealers Association earlier this week. They told us that they are all in on electric vehicles.

[13:40:08]

However, the president does have some concerns about the affordability of electric vehicles moving forward. So they're hoping that the state will incorporate some sort of midterm review sometime in 2028.

Back over to you.

GOLODRYGA: Chris Nguyen, thank you.

I want to bring in CNN chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir.

Bill, we're talking about the most populous state in the country. How significant are these new rules and what will it do to climate change?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It's a big bite. Our car culture is created in southern California in many ways. That's where the problem of tail pipes first became most visible. It's where the environmental movement started as a result.

But if you look just as the numbers, Texas puts the most sort of planet-cooking pollution in the air, just in the vehicle sector. California is number two there. About 58 percent of all the energy-related CO2 emissions in California

come from the cars there.

So Gavin Newsom announced this a couple years ago. It's pretty inevitable that basically their own EPA within the state will approve it today. And the car companies are ready for it.

GOLODRYGA: The cars right now are very expensive. Inflation a factor there on that front. How feasible is this on that front, given we're seeing the prices that are relatively high?

WEIR: Keep in mind, this is 12 years away. And there's going to be so much more supply. Who knows? We may get the Jetson's car we were promised.

(CROSSTALK)

WEIR: And it will run on hydrogen or something.

But right now, if you look at the prices, it's pretty staggering. California owns 39 percent of all electric vehicles, but it's just 2 percent of the car fleet there. These are the prices comparatively now.

But as we said, I mean, if you look at the early days of the computer or the cell phone, they were monstrous in terms of the price tag. That will come down.

With all these incentives that just went into this Inflation Reduction Act, there's 10 years of incentives built in for consumers now. So it's an indication this is a real milestone.

GOLODRYGA: It was interesting to hear Chris say that most automakers and the auto industry as a whole is on board with this. That's promising.

WEIR: For the same reason that Henry ford was considered a genius. He figured out early on you wanted an assembly line, that uniformity is the key to profit. You don't want to build 12 different assembly lines for the various states.

So these are the statements. "G.M. and California have a shared vision of an all-electric future."

The Ford logo investing more than $50 billion. Next to that one. You see they're investing more than $50 billion in electric vehicles and batteries by 2026. Much faster.

Honda calls it "an ambitious but an important milestone," but cautions "reaching the goal would require several steps, including building out domestic supply chains so more vehicles can qualify for the tax credit."

They try to incentivize America production, not just the car itself, but the minerals that go into it. All of these rare minerals, lithium. The United States has those, but you need to uncork them. And that

means environmental reviews and all of that. So the whole supply chain around transportation has to move.

But this is an indication. China, the smallest province there promised they would ban all electric cars (sic) five years sooner than California, by 2030. Europe is doing this.

So it might be time to start thinking about the tail pipe like the horse. The horse didn't go extinct when we all picked up cars. They changed in their use. There will be a used car market, robust.

And we know that there will be states that probably proudly be burning gas, right?

GOLODRYGA: Right, right.

WEIR: And have will their own artisan four-barrel carburetor builders. Who knows how long. But this is a big step forward in terms of decarbonizing our economy.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. It seems like it's just around the corner. You're like, no, no, we've still got time.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: We've got 12 years.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: The Jetson car of the future.

Bill, it was great to see you. Thank you.

WEIR: Nice to see you, Bianna.

[13:44:44]

GOLODRYGA: Well, hundreds of migrants are arriving daily in New York City from Texas. But as the city scrambles to address the surge, more and more migrants aren't even surviving the trek across the southern border.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:24]

GOLODRYGA: A record surge of migrant in New York City. Officials say 237 arrived by bus from Texas just yesterday. More are expected today. It's all part of an ongoing battle between large cities and the Texas governor as his state sees a growing number of border crossings.

CNN's Rosa Flores traveled to the Mexican border where this year has now become one of the deadliest for migrants trying to cross.

A warning: Some of the images and details in her report are graphic. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This 22-year-old Mexican construction worker crossed into Texas with his brother last week, authorities say.

DR. CORINNE STERN, WEBB COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER: They'd been walking for three days without any food.

FLORES: The patches on his body --

(on camera): Now, did he get medical attention?

STERN: He did.

FLORES (voice-over): Signs paramedics tried to save his life.

Migrants have tried entering the U.S. southern border a record- breaking nearly two million times since October.

And this man's tragic story is far from unique. Webb County medical examiner, Dr. Corinne Stern, says this year is on pace to be the deadliest year for migrants crossing into this region of Texas in recent memory.

STERN: I'm seeing an extreme increase in the number of border crossing deaths compared to other years.

FLORES: So much so, Stern recently did something she says she has never done in her 20-year career. She told officials in the 11 border counties she serves that her office is at capacity.

STERN: And so, we're asking them to store them at their funeral homes until we have a space available.

[13:49:58]

FLORES: And in Maverick County, one of the deadliest counties, says Stern, a funeral home there tells CNN they're at capacity too. And with the medical examiner not taking the deceased, they are now burying unidentified migrants.

FLORES (OC: In the back of the county cemetery, there are 16 fresh graves. There were no funerals, no family, no flowers.

All the graves are marked with partial crosses made out of PVC piping. All of these are Migrant Jane and John Does, except for one. There's a baby John Doe.

FLORES (voice-over): Stern says she has 260 deceased migrants in her custody. The majority died this year from drowning or hyperthermia and are pending identification.

TOM SCHMERBER, SHERIFF, MAVERICK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: (INAUDIBLE) FLORES: Despite the dangers, Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber says the arrival of migrants is not stopping, and neither are the deaths.

He shows us postmortem photos -- some too graphic not to completely blur, including of a child -- of just some of the migrant deaths in the past seven months.

SCHMERBER: This is a crossing area.

FLORES (on camera): And it's every day that you're finding bodies?

SCHMERBER: Every day.

FLORES (voice-over): And then shows us --

(on camera): A 3-year-old in this area?

SCHMERBER: In this area.

FLORES (voice-over): -- where a 3-year-old drowned Monday.

SCHMERBER: I was informed he was taken out, given CPR, but then he died.

FLORES: Tuesday, our cameras were there as another body was recovered from the Rio Grande, this time a man.

Yards away, dozens of migrants who had just crossed the river waited for Border Patrol, including two Cuban women in their 20s who did not want to be identified for fear it could impact their immigration cases.

(on camera): How deep was the water for your daughter?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FLORES (voice-over): She shows us, it was about waist-deep and then got emotional when asked about children dying on the very river she had just crossed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FLORES: She says it was a tough decision for her daughter's future.

Most likely, the same hopes and dreams this man had. His, cut short. But Stern says he was fortunate not to die alone.

STERN: His brother stayed behind and was with him at the time Border Patrol found him.

FLORES: Which means, unlike the hundreds of other unidentified migrants in her custody, he will reunite with his family soon, says Stern.

And has this message for anyone thinking about crossing the border. STERN: Politics aside, all these deaths are ruled an accident. An accident, by definition, is preventable 100 percent. Stay home.

FLORES: Rosa Flores, CNN, along the U.S./Mexico border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Such a tragic situation.

Our thanks to Rosa.

Well, in Columbus, Ohio, a teacher strike at the state's largest school district is now over. Today, the teachers union and Board of Education say they reached an agreement to get students back to class starting Monday.

Thousands of school workers went on strike, demanding better classroom conditions. The school year began online yesterday with substitute teachers. Classes will remain virtual for the next two days while staff prepare to return next week.

In Uvalde, Texas, school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, has been fired. The school board voting unanimously for his termination last night.

He's faced intense scrutiny ever since a gunman spent 77 minutes inside Robb Elementary, murdering 19 children and two teachers back in May.

Arredondo has threatened legal action over his firing. In a statement, calling the process a, quote, "unconstitutional public lynching."

And no jab, no stab at yet another tennis title for Novak Djokovic. The Serbian phenom just hours ago withdrawing from the U.S. Open because he is unvaccinated from COVID-19 and cannot travel to New York.

CNN's Don Riddell has more.

Don, when I saw this cross, I was reminded of just how consequential his anti-vaccine stance has been for him and the sport itself.

DON RIDDELL, CNN HOST, "WORLD SPORT": Yes, no kidding, Bianna. Novak Djokovic may well go down as the greatest male player of all time.. But in order to do so, he's going to have to have more grand slam titles than everyone else, and this is definitely costing him.

Remember, he was infamously deported from Australia earlier this year. Now, he can't play in the U.S. Open either, so he's going to miss two

of the four majors this year. He's on 21 majors overall. Rafael Nadal is one ahead of him on 22.

But Djokovic doesn't really need this kind of -- these kind of hurdles in his way. But he is very, very proudly anti-vaxx. He's not going to change his ways. He was hoping for a miracle. He was hoping the CDC and the U.S.

government were going to change their policy and allow nonvaccinated and nonimmigrants in, but they haven't, so that's why he had to withdraw.

GOLODRYGA: Some call him proud. Some call him stubborn for not getting that jab.

Also, all eyes on the U.S. Open will be on Serena Williams and for good reason this time. Talk about it.

[13:55:03]

RIDDELL: Yes, so, she's not retiring from tennis. She's evolving. And many expect that the U.S. open next week will be her final tennis tournament at the age of almost 41.

She's got a prayer from Montenegro, Danka Kovinic, in the draw for her first match. Since Serena said that she was going to be retiring or evolving, she hasn't won a match. So a lot of attention and interest on this one for sure.

GOLODRYGA: We will be following it closely.

Don Riddell, thank you.

RIDDELL: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: And that does it for me. I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Until then, don't go anywhere. The news continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)