Emergency shutdown after power failure
Zaporizhia NPP further cut off from the grid
08/26/2022, 09:46 am
After a fire in the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the last two reactors also have to be shut down. So far it has not been possible to reconnect the nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian power grid. The situation on the ground is increasingly opaque.
Concerns about a nuclear incident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant are growing. According to the operator Energoatom, after two running reactors at the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, which was occupied by Russian troops, were shut down on Thursday due to a double power failure, the power plant is still cut off from the Ukrainian power grid. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for increased international pressure on Russia to clear the nuclear power plant.
The situation in and around the nuclear power plant is opaque. The last remaining connection line between the nuclear power plant and the Ukrainian power grid was interrupted on Thursday by fires in ash pits in the adjacent thermal power plant. According to the operator, three other lines had previously been damaged “by terrorist attacks” by the Russian side. According to Ukrainian information, all six reactors are currently idle, according to Kyiv. The Russian occupation administration, on the other hand, announced that a reactor block had been started up again.
In view of the situation, Zelenskyj demanded that the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA and other international organizations act much more quickly than before. “Every minute that the Russian military stays in the nuclear power plant means the risk of a global radiation catastrophe.”
Dispute over mission of IAEA
IAEA Director Rafael Grossi confirmed his willingness to go to Zaporizhia with experts within a few days. A Russian diplomat at the United Nations put late August or early September as the time to travel. He is optimistic about the preparations, he said on Russian television. However, the delegation’s itinerary and the necessary security guarantees on both sides have been the subject of arguments for weeks.
According to Energoatom, Zaporizhia was cut off from the Ukrainian grid for the first time in its history due to the power outage. There are also fears that Russia could feed the nuclear power plant’s electricity production into its grid. This would be unacceptable, it said from the United States. “To be clear, the nuclear power plant and the electricity it produces belong to Ukraine,” a US State Department official said.
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defense has released satellite photos purportedly showing Russian military trucks next to a reactor. Last week, unverified video also showed military vehicles in one of the large machine shops. The sustained shelling around the plant has sparked fears that Zaporizhia could experience a nuclear disaster similar to that in Ukraine’s Chernobyl in 1986.