Ukrainian engineers have made further headway in repairing vital power infrastructure in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), providing the plant with renewed access to a third back-up power line, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed at the site today.
The 150 kilovolt (kV) back-up line was made available to the ZNPP again after the repair of an electrical switchyard at a nearby thermal power plant, a few days after it was damaged by shelling that also plunged the city of Enerhodar into darkness.
This means that all three back-up power lines to the ZNPP – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – have been restored over the past few days. One of them, a 750/330 kilovolt (kV) line, is now providing the ZNPP with the external electricity it needs for cooling and other essential safety functions. The 330 kV and the 150 kV lines are being held in reserve. All the ZNPP’s six reactors are in a cold shutdown state, but they still require power to maintain necessary safety functions.
As a result of the repair of the switchyard, some people in Enerhodar – which suffered a complete blackout last week – are again receiving electricity. While the thermal power plant is not operating, its switchyard can be used to access electricity from the Ukrainian network.
Despite these developments related to the plant’s power situation, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi again stressed that the nuclear safety and security situation at the plant – held by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian staff in the middle of a war zone – remained precarious. While there has been no shelling at or near the ZNPP in recent days, it was still occurring in the wider area, he said. The ZNPP’s four main external power lines are all down and it is not currently providing electricity to households, factories and others.
To help stabilise the situation, the Director General has initiated consultations with the relevant parties aimed at the urgent establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone at the ZNPP. Earlier this month, he established a continuous IAEA presence at the ZNPP after leading a team of experts to the site.
Separately today, as part of continuing IAEA-led support for nuclear safety and security in Ukraine, Director General Grossi said a second major assistance shipment had arrived in the country, including radiation monitoring and personal protective equipment provided by Hungary, Romania and Spain.
The delivery to Ukraine’s Rivne and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants, as well as the country’s regulator and its state emergency service, was organized through the IAEA’s Response and Assistance Network (RANET), where countries can register their capabilities for support in areas ranging from radiation dose assessments and decontamination to nuclear installation assessment and advice, radioactive source search and recovery, and much else. It follows an earlier shipment of equipment to Ukraine in July.
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-102-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
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