The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about warfare in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant and hopes to be able to send inspectors to the area as soon as possible.
26.8. 17:05•Updated 26.8. 18:17
Yesterday, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located in the Russian-occupied territory of southern Ukraine, temporarily lost connection to the power grid that supplies it with electricity.
The outage raised concerns about the threat of a nuclear accident, as the power plant constantly needs energy to cool the nuclear reactors.
Director of the Nuclear Power Plant Supervision Department of the Swedish Radiation Protection Agency (STUK). Tapani Virolainen says that the risk of an accident did not arise and the radiation values did not rise, because the nuclear power plant’s safety systems functioned properly.
– Because of this event, there is no need to worry about a nuclear accident. The interruption of the electricity grid connection to the nuclear power plant is one basic event that is taken into account in the design of the nuclear power plant.
At the nuclear power plant, the backup systems of the power plant, i.e. diesel-powered generators, which produced electricity for the cooling and safety systems of the nuclear power plant, started immediately yesterday. Later yesterday, the electricity grid connection to the nuclear power plant was restored.
– The nuclear power plant is able to go into a safe state without an external power grid connection. Preferably, of course, you want electricity from outside the nuclear power plant, because then you can’t rely on diesel. On the other hand, those backup generators are there for situations like this, says Virolainen.
The nuclear power plant normally receives the electricity it uses from the nearby Zaporizhia thermal power plant, from which the electricity supply to the nuclear power plant was interrupted due to the explosions that occurred in the vicinity of the power plant. Three of the four power lines running from the power plant to the nuclear power plant had already been cut earlier.
There is enough fuel in Zaporizhia
Virolainen says that after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, the EU’s stress tests discussed how long nuclear power plants can operate safely without connection to the electricity grid.
Based on the reports investigated by the Radiation Protection Agency, the Zaporizhia power plant has enough diesel oil to run the nuclear power plant for seven to nine days, if all six reactors of the nuclear power plant were running.
Recently, the nuclear power plant has operated at a considerable undercapacity and no more than two reactors have been running at the same time. This reduces residual heat from the nuclear fuel and thus the amount of energy needed for cooling.
– Presumably, the nuclear power plant would be able to operate on a weekly basis without even bringing any more diesel oil there. Therefore, there was no radiation safety risk from this power outage. We are still operating here in a war zone, so it is difficult to predict the development of the security situation, Virolainen reminds.
The reactor was connected to the electricity grid today
The Ukrainian energy company Energoatom, which operates the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the middle of the Russian occupation regime, announced yesterday that the plant’s two operating reactors were disconnected from the main lines that take electricity to the Ukrainian grid. Today, the company announced that one of the reactors has been connected back to the grid.
The Estonian says that the nuclear power plant cannot supply electricity to the Ukrainian power grid through the power line coming from the Zaporizhia thermal power plant.
– These so-called backup supply connections are built for nuclear power plants. They are at a lower voltage level and utilities cannot supply electricity to them, but they can only receive electricity through that. A nuclear power plant feeds the electricity it produces into the grid via main lines.
Energoatom said today that it intends to increase the power of the reactor after being reconnected to the main line of the nuclear power plant. However, it is uncertain how reliably the nuclear power plant, which produced about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the Russian attack, will be able to produce electricity in the future.
Will Russia connect the nuclear power plant to its main grid?
Director of Energoatom Petro Kotinin According to Russia, the plan is to permanently disconnect the nuclear power plant from Ukraine’s main grid and connect the nuclear power plant to the Russian electricity grid.
Russia could use the electricity produced by the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, for example, on the Crimean peninsula it occupies.
According to Tapani Virolainen, there is no technical obstacle to connecting the nuclear power plant to the power grid administered by Russia, if the electricity transmission lines are in place.
– On behalf of the institution, there is no obstacle to that. The nuclear power plant cannot see where it is generating electricity. One would only need to know the existing transmission lines to estimate the timetable for this plan.
The IAEA demands access to the nuclear power plant area
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi warned yesterday that without the start-up of the nuclear power plant’s diesel generators, the radiation accident would have happened yesterday. He also talked on the phone with the President of the United States Joe Biden with, who agreed with Ukraine’s demand to immediately return the nuclear power plant area to Ukraine’s full control.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been warning for weeks about the danger of a nuclear disaster in the area of the nuclear power plant and demanded to be allowed to visit the nuclear power plant to check its safety.
So far, the access of IAEA inspectors to the area has not been arranged, although both sides have given the inspectors a preliminary green light.
You can discuss the topic until Saturday 27.8 until 11 pm.