Technical staff at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, now controlled by Russia, face “increasingly difficult conditions” as officials continue to work to restore Supplying electricity to the power plantAs reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday (11).
“Technicians began repairing the damaged power lines” earlier this week, Aiea general manager Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
According to information transmitted to the UN nuclear regulator by the Ukrainian nuclear regulator, a section has been repaired, but the power to the outer zone is still out of order.
Grossi added that “the repair work will continue despite the difficult situation outside the nuclear reactor.”
Although emergency diesel generators provide backup power, “it is still important to repair the power lines as quickly as possible,” Aiea’s general manager stressed.
Despite the problems, the IAEA maintains that there is no risk of a “serious impact” on the site, where radioactive waste management facilities are located, “because the volume of cooling water from the spent fuel facility is sufficient to maintain heat removal without a catalytic supply.”
On the other hand, the agency “expressed concern about the availability of food stocks” for the 211 technicians and guards who have been at the plant since Russia launched the military offensive in Ukraine more than two weeks ago, and “are facing increasingly difficult times.”
In addition, the Ukrainian regulator has lost contact with the plant and cannot provide information to Aiea about the radiological control of the facility, although it continues to receive information about the situation “through senior off-site plant officials,” according to the statement. ..
Regarding the operational status of the nuclear plants in Ukraine, which are four, the regulator confirmed that eight of the fifteen reactors are still operating, including two in Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plantat normal radiation levels.
Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, has four high-voltage (750 kV) lines outside the plant, as well as an additional reserve.
Two of these lines were damaged in recent fighting in the area; So now there are two power lines, as well as a backup line, at the station’s disposal, where “work is also underway to detect and dispose of unexploded ordnance located at its training center.”
At this plant, the Ukrainian employees running the plant were rotating according to the usual schedule, but according to the organizer, “the presence of foreign forces in the region affects business morale and causes stress.”
Additional damage was also reported at a new nuclear research facility in the city of Kharkiv. Since its nuclear material is “subcritical”, the IAEA considers that the damage “will not have radiological consequences.”
Regarding the partial loss of remote data transmission to the IAEA on nuclear materials and activities at nuclear power plants, the system remains out of service at Chernobyl and there are “intermittent problems” from the plant in southern Ukraine.
On the other hand, the Zaporizhzhia transmission has been restored, as detailed by Aiea.
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