ZAPORIJIA. On Friday, kyiv announced that it had hit a Russian base in Energodar, the city where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located, which has been causing concern for several weeks already.
[Mis à jour le 2 septembre 2022 à 20h16] The day after the arrival of IAEA inspectors in the Zaporizhia power plant, currently occupied by the Russians, kyiv announced on Friday evening that it had struck the city where the one that is none other than the largest nuclear power plant is located. Europe. “In the localities of Kherson and Energodar [ville où se trouve Zaporijia ndlr.]precise strikes by our troops destroyed three enemy artillery systems, as well as an ammunition depot”, it is thus stated in the evening report of the Ukrainian army.
On Thursday, long-awaited experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived on the ground to carry out an inspection of the plant, a collateral victim of the war in ukraine. Threatened by bombing, occupied by the Russians since March 4, 2022, victim of the first power cut in its history… the Zaporijia power plant has been at the heart of all concerns lately. And the first return of the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, on Thursday, was not the most reassuring. “The physical integrity of the plant has been violated on several occasions,” he said, announcing in passing that an IAEA team would remain on site until Sunday or Monday to continue the evaluation.
The situation there is tense. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of strikes on the plant. “What you have to understand is that as long as the Ukrainians don’t stop bombing the plant, Ukraine, Russia and Europe will be in great danger. And that’s not politics!” , confided an executive of Rosatom, the constructor of the Russian power plant, to franceinfo. No trace of abnormal radioactivity was found around the Zaporijia power plant. The IAEA wishes to install a permanent presence on the site in order to avoid a nuclear accident.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant targeted by bombardments
Several bombings have targeted the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia or neighboring towns since the start of the war in Ukraine. Moscow and kyiv blame each other for each new strike, but both sides are called upon by the international community and the IAEA to put an end to attacks near the site given the danger that this represents. Calls renewed in August when several bombings followed one another. The latest strikes date back no further than the morning of September 1, the day of the visit by IAEA experts. Assaults of Russian origin targeted the city of Enerhodar, according to Ukraine.
In addition to the bombardments which have already hit a radioactive material storage building and a reactor of the plant, the Zaporijia nuclear power plant was also temporarily disconnected from the electricity grid by Russian troops between August 25 and 26. The procedure, even temporary, almost jeopardized the plant since it prevented the cooling of the reactors and ran the risk of overheating and therefore of a nuclear accident. The situation returned to normal thanks to a back-up system which took over until the site was connected to the electricity grid. In the following days, the Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom warned of the risk of radioactive leaks and fires after new strikes. The national company indicated that “the infrastructure of the plant has been damaged and there are risks of hydrogen leakage and spraying of radioactive substances”. According to her, it is also necessary to fear a high risk of fire.
The mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency is multiple. It must, initially, make it possible to assess the working conditions of the personnel in the Zaporijia power plant. Composed of fourteen international inspectors from Albania, China, France, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland and Serbia, the Agency’s delegation has a limited mandate . In a newspaper interview The world, the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, detailed his mission. “It aims for the safety and security of the installation, that is to say its normal and unhindered operation”, he explained. Thus, after an inventory, the members of the mission will be able to repair the essentials, restart the damaged transmission systems. The spent fuel storage pools will also be inspected. Finally, the electricity supply will be controlled. Indeed, it is essential for cooling reactors in order to avoid a nuclear accident. “I want to believe that our presence on the spot will have an effect if not deterrent, at least real”, confided then Rafael Grossi.
What are the risks for the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant?
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that it is worried about the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the risks smoldering on the site due to the bombardments. “The installation is working, but with difficulties, so that in the current circumstances the scenario of an accident cannot be excluded. There are continuous interruptions in the electricity supply, problems with spent fuels… An accident makes you go from green to red without transition. So, I am indeed worried”, detailed Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the IAEA, in an interview granted to the World August 26.
The risk of a meltdown accident at the plant’s core has become a possibility since the disconnection of the nuclear plant from the electricity grid at the end of August. Electricity is essential to ensure the cooling of the reactors and to avoid a nuclear accident and according to the boss of the Ukrainian nuclear industry, Petro Kotin, 90 minutes without electricity would be sufficient for the temperature of the reactors to become worrying and for a start of fusion to be considered. . Still, the risk is “very unlikely” according to Emmanuelle Galichet, teacher-researcher in nuclear physics at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, contacted by the world, August 31. The important security measures that take into account the presence of twenty emergency generators offer “about a week to ten days of fuel autonomy”, enough to allow time to intervene and avoid disaster. The expert also excludes the risk of an explosion or the formation of a radioactive cloud, as was the case during the Fukushima explosion.
According to Emmanuelle Galichet, the risks and accidents most likely to occur mainly concern the storage of radioactive waste. “If the very robust containers in which they are stored were to give way, there will be a dissemination of radioactivity around the storage area”, she explains, once again ruling out the hypothesis of a radioactive cloud in the upper atmosphere. For the time being, “no abnormal release of radioactivity” has been noted by research institutes, which are very attentive to the situation.
Map of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located on the banks of the Dnieper River, in the southern part of Ukraine. The site is not in the direct vicinity of the city, but about fifty kilometers as the crow flies to the south-west of the town. It is precisely installed on the territory of the city of Enerhodar.
While Ukraine currently has five nuclear power plants on its territory, that of Zaporijia is the most powerful in Europe.