Nuclear power plant in Ukraine, occupied by Russia, faces a new risk
This week, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Mariano Grossi, was so concerned about a new risk at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that he flew to Ukraine and crossed the frontline in the country’s war with Russia to assess the situation for himself.
Mr Grossi had been to the plant before and had also expressed serious concern about the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe, but this threat was different: the recent destruction of a dam on the Dnipro river deprived the plant of its main source of water. the crucial task of cooling its six reactors and spent fuel rods.
But on Friday, after visiting the factory, Mr. Broadly good news, saying that existing water storage at the plant would support the reactors for “several months” and that authorities there had begun taking other steps to replenish supplies.
Here is an explanation of Ukraine’s nuclear industry and why the Zaporizhzhia plant is under threat:
Why is the Zaporizhzhia plant important?
Few countries are as dependent on nuclear energy for their energy supply as Ukraine. Before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the nuclear industry supplied about half of Ukraine’s energy needs.
Ukraine has 15 reactors in four plants. Three facilities are located far from the war front lines. The fourth, the Zaporizhzhia factory, was occupied by Russian troops in a conflagration last March. It no longer produces power for Ukraine’s power grid, but as an active nuclear power plant, its safe operation remains essential to avoid a catastrophic meltdown.
The country’s industry has a checkered history. The first reactor came into operation during the Soviet era, and in 1986 an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine caused the worst nuclear accident in history.
Why is water so important for the plant?
Water cools both the reactor cores and the spent fuel, making the plant dependent on a large and constant supply. To meet the need, it has been built near a reservoir that is up to 14 miles wide on the Dnipro River. That water feeds a giant cooling pond on site — larger than Washington’s National Mall — and the water from the pool is in turn pumped to the plant’s six reactors. The design minimizes the risk of the reactors ever running out of the water needed to avoid a meltdown.
What is the last risk and what is being done?
The level in the reservoir that serves as the nuclear power plant’s primary source of water has fallen dramatically since June 6, when an explosion detonated the Kakhovka Dam, flooding the lower basin and killing at least 14 people. However, there is no immediate danger at the plant, because the cooling pond is full and the reactors need much less water than usual. Due to war threats to the plant, five of the reactors have been in “cold shutdown” mode since last year, an inactive state in which they produce no power. The sixth is in “hot shutdown mode”, meaning it produces some power for plant safety.
Mr Grossi said on Friday he was encouraged that back-up measures were being taken to replenish the existing water in the pond, which is evaporating. He said without that “there will very clearly be a very serious problem before the end of the year.”
It will take years for the dam and reservoir to recover, Mr Grossi said, so factory workers have begun installing pumps to draw water from the depleted reservoir, whose banks are receding to the original river bed. They are also making plans to drill deeper into the ground to the water table to create wells that can feed the pond, added Mr. Big up.
What is the wider problem?
It’s the obvious one. The factory in Zaporizhzhia is located in a war zone, the first time in history that a nuclear power plant has been occupied by a foreign power.
Ukrainian authorities say Russian troops placed mines on the factory grounds to prevent an attack, stored weapons and explosives in the rooms, set up gun emplacements and billeted troops there on their way to the battlefield.
Moscow has also attempted to impose management control, with Russian managers on the ground pressuring workers to break their contracts with Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company Energoatom and sign up with Russia’s nuclear company Rosatom. They also pressured them to apply for Russian passports, said Oleh Korikov, Ukraine’s nuclear and radiation safety inspector.
During the process, workers say that some people have been detained and tortured and the workforce of 11,000 has been reduced to a skeleton crew of about 2,000, Mr Korikov said. Many of the remaining workers are not allowed to go to the factory because they refuse to sign contracts with Russian inspectors, Grossi said on Tuesday.
Long-term nuclear safety requires adherence to the principles enumerated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, including a stable political environment, a predictable management structure, and a calm environment for employees and an entire workforce. According to Mr. Grossi, these principles were violated in Zaporizhzhia.
What about real fights?
Ukraine has made no attempt to retake the factory. Last summer, however shelling has damaged an area where spent fuel is stored, the most serious of a series of shellings. In addition, the plant has been forced to rely on diesel generators seven times as power lines supplying power to the plant have been cut by shelling. A constant supply of electricity is crucial for running the pumps that circulate the cooling water. Each time, the power lines were quickly reconnected, but the incidents were a concern because the diesel fuel stored at the plant to be used in back-up generators would only last for days.
More broadly, the facility is near a frontline at a time when Ukraine has launched a counter-offensive to reclaim territory in the south and east of the country. The factory, which stands on the eastern bank of the river, is part of a strip of land north of the Sea of Azov held by Russian forces. According to Grossi, fighting in the area would pose an additional risk.
In the longer term, the IAEA proposed last year to demilitarize the plant with a deal from both sides not to attack. However, the governments in Kiev and Moscow have not agreed to establish a security zone around the plant. One obstacle, according to experts, was Ukraine’s unwillingness to formally recognize Russian control over a plant on its territory. For its part, Moscow, which illegally annexed the Zaporizhzhia region last October and now considers the nuclear power plant part of Russia, was unwilling to relinquish its control.