Current situation at Ukraine nuclear station ‘not sustainable’
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi said on 15 October that he expects repairs to start soon to restore offsite power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, more than three weeks after the site lost the connection to the grid for the tenth time during the military conflict.
“Immediately after the plant last month lost all offsite power, the IAEA has been engaging closely with both sides to help create the necessary security conditions on the ground so that their technicians can carry out repair work that is of crucial importance for nuclear safety and security,” Grossi said.
“This region is an active war zone, and we must be very careful in how we approach this complex and sensitive matter. Repairs to the power lines are needed on both sides of the frontline, at locations several kilometres from the site itself.”
Grossi said he was continuing to consult with Russia and Ukraine to enable this work to proceed within the next few days.
“They both tell me that they also want the repairs to go ahead,” he said. “The current situation – with the plant relying on emergency diesel generators for weeks now – is not sustainable.”
Before the conflict, the Zaporizhzhia plant had access to 10 power lines. In recent years, that was reduced to two, of which one 330 kilovolt (kV) line was lost on 7 May while the sole remaining 750 kV line was disconnected on 23 September. It is by far the facility’s longest complete loss of offsite power during the conflict.
Seven emergency diesel generators are producing electricity for the site, mainly for the water pumps to cool the fuel in its six shutdown reactors as well as its spent fuel. Another 13 emergency diesel generators are in standby mode, with the plant continuing to alternate the ones in use in order to carry out necessary servicing.
Safety systems continue to be in operation for all reactor units and spent fuel pools, to maintain nuclear safety, the IAEA said.
The IAEA team at the plant has also continued to report that there has been no increase in the temperatures within the coolant in the reactors or the spent fuel pools – indicating that the nuclear fuel continues to be cooled effectively and that nuclear safety is maintained.
The team also performed radiation monitoring, confirming that radiation levels were normal for the site.
The team has continued to report military activities at various distances from the site.
Elsewhere, the Chernobyl site remains disconnected from the 330 kV power line, following reports two weeks ago that military strikes had damaged a nearby electrical substation, leading to a partial blackout of the site’s New Safe Confinement (NSC).
The €1.5bn ($1.7bn) NSC was built to prevent any radioactive release from the destroyed Unit 4 reactor and protect it from external hazards.
The site has since successfully tested the emergency diesel generators that supply the NSC, confirming their readiness in case of a future loss of power.
Fuel reserves are sufficient for over 10 days of emergency diesel generator operation, with additional diesel fuel ordered to strengthen contingency capacity, the IAEA said.
