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Russian military control of Ukraine nuclear plants cause for grave concern, nuclear energy agency warns

Wildfires break out in Chernobyl amid a non-functioning radiation-monitoring system

March 23, 2022
By Susan D’Agostino

Seven wildfires have broken out in the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, according to a statement by Ukraine’s Parliament. The fires, which were observed via satellite, exceed Ukraine’s emergency classification criteria tenfold. Ukrainian officials stated that the fires were caused by “the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, namely the shelling or arson,” though this has not been independently verified. Wildfires risk mobilizing and dispersing radioactive contaminants left over from the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

Ukrainian firefighters have been unable to access the area since Russia took control in the first days of the war. Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear company, also reported this week that Chernobyl’s radiation monitoring system is no longer working. Without the data that system would provide, radiation levels in the region may rise unchecked. Though the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer operational, it requires constant management.

Ukraine’s State Agency on Exclusion Zone Management also reported this week that the Russian military destroyed a six-million-euro laboratory that, in part, worked to improve radioactive waste management, according to the Associated Press. The lab contained “highly active samples and samples of radionuclides” that could have been released, according to the agency.

Seasonal wildfires are common during spring and summer in the region surrounding Chernobyl. ...

https://thebulletin.org/2022/03/wil...-non-functioning-radiation-monitoring-system/
 
23/03/2022

Zaporizhzhya power plant in Ukraine: Arrangements in the event of a total loss of external power supplies


​IRSN publishes a new information report providing details of the arrangements planned in the event of a total loss of external supplies at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.

​The plant is currently connected to the Ukrainian electricity grid by two of the four 750 kV lines available. Two lines are currently unavailable due to the fighting; a third one was temporarily unavailable but was repaired on the evening of March 18, 2022. The power plant is also connected to the Ukrainian 330 kV grid, to which the Zaporizhzhya thermal power plant and the Dnipro and Kakhovka hydroelectric power plants are connected nearby. This 330 kV line is currently available.

The Zaporizhzhya NPP provides electricity to the Ukrainian power grid but when its reactors are shut down, the Ukrainian power grid provides power for its monitoring and backup systems. The availability of these external power supplies is therefore an important issue for ensuring the safety of the reactors.

On the basis of the information available to IRSN, the resources planned for the Zaporizhzhya power plant would enable the site teams, in the event of failure of the islanding transient, to cope with a situation of total loss of external power supplies for a period of at least 10 days. This conclusion is subject to the reliability of the equipment implemented, their initial fuel supply, the availability of crews and the absence of other factors that could aggravate the situation.

​Download IRSN information report​​ from March 22​​, 2022​​ "Arrangements in the event of a total loss of external power supplies of the Zaporizhzhya power plant in Ukraine" (PDF)



https://www.irsn.fr/EN/newsroom/News...-supplies.aspx
 
Update 31 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

MAR 24 2022

Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that Russian forces were shelling Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych where many people working at the nearby Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) live, putting them at risk and preventing further rotation of personnel to and from the site, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

Ukraine’s regulatory authority said the shelling was endangering “the homes and families of those operational personnel that ensure the nuclear and radiation safety” of the Chornobyl NPP, which is under the control of Russian forces since 24 February. Slavutych is located outside the Exclusion Zone that was established around the NPP after the 1986 accident.

Director General Grossi expressed concern about this development, which comes just a few days after technical staff at the Chornobyl NPP were finally able to rotate and go to their homes in Slavutych and rest after working for nearly four weeks without a change of shift, and he said the IAEA would continue to closely monitor the situation. Staff now working at the site also come from Slavutych.

Earlier today, the regulator also informed the IAEA that it does not expect wildfires burning in the vicinity of the Chornobyl NPP to cause any significant radiological concern, a day after the country’s regulator said Ukrainian firefighters were trying to extinguish blazes in the area. ...

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pre...tor-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
 
Russian troops 'firing at nuclear reactor' as minister warns of 'major disaster' - Kharkiv's Institute of Physics and Technology

23:05, 26 Mar 2022
UPDATED 23:07, 26 Mar 2022

Russian forces are firing at a nuclear research facility in the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.

The nation's parliament announced it was not possible to estimate the damage due to the ongoing clashes in the area.

It comes two weeks after a previous Russian attack on Kharkiv's Institute of Physics and Technology, which is home to a nuclear reactor core.

A Ukrainian politician warned that the latest shelling risked a 'major environmental disaster'.

The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine said: "The continuation of its bombardment can lead to severe radiation consequences with contamination of nearby territories."

Emine Dzheppar, Ukraine's first deputy minister of foreign affairs, added: "The Russian aggressor fired rocket 'Grad' systems on the territory of the Kharkiv Institute, where the nuclear installation 'Source of Neutrons' is located, in the active zone of which 37 fuel nuclear cells were loaded. ...

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russian-troops-firing-nuclear-reactor-26565217
 
The Kyiv Independent @KyivIndependent
⚡️ Kharkiv nuclear research reactor hit by Russian shelling.
The nuclear research reactor at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology has come under renewed Russian fire.
Ukrainian authorities have not yet been able to assess damage to the site, due to constant shelling.
2:52 PM · Mar 26, 2022·
 
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/w...og-chief-ukraine-talk-safety-support-83736485
UN nuclear watchdog chief in Ukraine to talk safety support

The U.N. nuclear watchdog says its director-general has arrived in Ukraine for talks with senior government officials on delivering “urgent technical assistance” to ensure the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities

ByThe Associated Press
29 March 2022, 08:50

LVIV, Ukraine -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog's director-general arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for talks with senior government officials on delivering “urgent technical assistance” to ensure the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities, the agency said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Rafael Mariano Grossi’s aim is to “to initiate prompt safety and security support” for Ukraine’s nuclear sites. That will include sending IAEA experts to “prioritized facilities,” which it didn't identify, and sending “vital safety and security supplies” including monitoring and emergency equipment...
 
Russian troops leaving Chernobyl nuclear site 'have acute radiation sickness'

20:57, 30 Mar 2022
UPDATED 23:08, 30 Mar 2022

Russian troops leaving the Chernobyl nuclear site have 'acute radiation sickness', it has been claimed.

The Pentagon confirmed Russian troops were pulling out of the irradiated nuclear wasteland, but an employee at the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management said they were running away "irradiated".

He said they were being transported by the bus load to a special radiation medical centre in Gomel, Belarus to help treat their radioactive poisoning.

In a post on facebook, Yaroslav Yemelianenko, who worked to keep the site safe, said: "Another batch of radiation irradiation of Russian terrorists who captured the Chernobylzone, was brought to the Belarusian center of radiation medicine in Gomel today.

"Digging the trenches in the Rudu forest, bitches? Now live the rest of your short life with this. There are rules of handling this territory.

"They are mandatory to perform because radiation is physics - it works regardless of status or chases. If you have minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided."

He went onto quote a Belarusian TV channel which said "about 7 medical PAZs arrived at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology.

...This shocking revelation comes as US intelligence confirmed Russian soldiers have withdrawn from the site....

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/retreating-russian-troops-leaving-chernobyl-26596437
 
This one could be true. The soldiers were sacrificed to see what was going on at that lab. This clearly shows the long-term devastation to the environment from nuclear events.
 
Chernobyl was never a legitimate military target. The Russian army seized it for propaganda/historical reasons, and perhaps in the remote chance some extremist element would use it to produce a dirty bomb (although international agencies could have prevented that equally well at lower risk), but once they realized how dangerous it still was, they seem to have quickly turned it back over to the Ukrainians. Reports are that all Russian troops are out of Chernobyl.
 
Update 38 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

31 Mar 2022

... Ukraine today informed the IAEA that the Russian forces that have been in control of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) since 24 February had, in writing, transferred control of the NPP to Ukrainian personnel and moved two convoys of troops towards Belarus. A third convoy had also left the city of Slavutych, where many of the Chornobyl NPP staff live, and moved towards Belarus. In addition, Ukraine reported that there are still some Russian forces on the Chornobyl NPP site but presumed that those forces are preparing to leave. ...


... The IAEA has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while being in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. The IAEA is seeking further information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation. ...

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pre...tor-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
 
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/...xposed-to-radiation-at-chernobyl-ukraine.html
Over 70 Russian soldiers exposed to radiation at Chernobyl: Ukraine

thumbnail.png
KYODO NEWS - 7 hours ago - 23:49
Warsaw - About 75 Russian soldiers are receiving medical treatment in Belarus after being exposed to radiation during their temporary control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, according to Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko.

Galushchenko said in an online interview Tuesday that the troops apparently suffered from radiation after digging around the grounds of the plant, the site of a 1986 disaster, to defend themselves from the Ukrainian military.

The troops were affected "very heavily and are in a very difficult situation and now (being treated) in clinics" in Belarus, Galushchenko said, citing information made available...
 
Update 84 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

29 Jun 2022 116/2022

Vienna, Austria

The International Atomic Energy Agency has once again lost the remote connection to its safeguards surveillance systems installed at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), further underlining the need for the IAEA to go there very soon, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.

The IAEA has not been able to visit the ZNPP since before the current military conflict in Ukraine. Russian forces took control of the plant nearly four months ago, but its Ukrainian staff are continuing to operate it.

Director General Grossi has repeatedly stressed his determination to agree, organize and head an IAEA-led international mission to conduct essential nuclear safety, security and safeguards activities at the ZNPP, Ukraine’s largest such facility with six reactors.

He also recently expressed his increasing concern about the difficult conditions facing staff at the ZNPP and the impact of such conditions on the safety and security of the plant

“The fact that our remote safeguards data transmission is down again – for the second time in the past month – only adds to the urgency to dispatch this mission,” he said.

Earlier this month, the IAEA and the Ukrainian operator of the plant worked together to restore the remote transmission of safeguards data from the ZNPP to IAEA headquarters after a technical interruption of almost two weeks. The data from this time period was also recovered.

But the connection was lost again on 25 June, due to a disruption of the facility’s communication systems, Director General Grossi said, citing the assessment of IAEA technicians at its headquarters.

In addition, inspectors can only carry out essential nuclear material verification work when they are at the site. The interval of physical inventory verifications at nuclear power plants (NPPs) cannot exceed a specified duration. This is particularly important at two of the units at ZNPP. These units have also been refuelled in recent months and a physical verification of the nuclear material therein is a safeguards pre-requisite before re-starting them.

The IAEA is also facing a partial loss of remote safeguards data transmission from the Chornobyl NPP, the Director General said.

Safeguards data from IAEA systems installed at two of the NPP’s facilities are no longer being transmitted. ...

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pre...tor-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
 
Update 97 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

SEP 3 2022

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has once again lost the connection to its last remaining main external power line, but the facility is continuing to supply electricity to the grid through a reserve line, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed at the site today.

Less than 48 hours after Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Thursday established the presence of the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) at the facility in southern Ukraine, the Agency’s experts were told by senior Ukrainian staff that the ZNPP’s fourth operational 750 Kilovolt (kV) power line was down. The three others were lost earlier during the conflict.

However, the IAEA experts – now present at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant located in the middle of a war zone – also learnt that the 330/750 kV reserve line linking the facility to a nearby thermal power plant was delivering the electricity the ZNPP generates to the external grid. The same reserve line can also provide back-up power to the ZNPP if needed.

In addition, plant management informed the IAEA team that one of the ZNPP’s two operating units was disconnected in the afternoon today due to grid restrictions. The same unit 5 was disconnected also on 1 September – the day of Director General Grossi’s arrival at the site – due to an internal electrical failure but it was reconnected the following day.

One reactor is still operating and producing electricity both for cooling and other essential safety functions at the site and for households, factories and others through the grid. The ZNPP is held by Russian forces since early March, but its Ukrainian staff are continuing to operate the plant.

“Our team on the ground received direct, fast and reliable information about the latest significant development affecting the plant’s external power situation, as well as the operational status of the reactors. We already have a better understanding of the functionality of the reserve power line in connecting the facility to the grid. This is crucial information in assessing the overall situation there,” Director General Grossi said.

“The great value of finally having the IAEA permanently present at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is already abundantly clear. It is a game changer,” he said, adding that the IAEA remained in close contact with its Ukrainian counterparts and continued to receive valuable updates about the situation from them.

Friday evening’s disconnection of the 750 kV power line – which happened temporarily also on 25 August – followed renewed shelling in the area, Ukraine separately informed the IAEA.

... At the ZNPP, the ISAMZ experts will carry out detailed and continuous work to assess the physical damage to the plant’s facilities, determine the functionality of the main and back-up safety and security systems and evaluate the staff’s working conditions, in addition to performing urgent safeguards activities on the site.

“The difference between having the IAEA at the site and not having us there is like day and night. I remain gravely concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant – this hasn’t changed – but the continued presence of the IAEA will be of paramount importance in helping to stabilise the situation. ...

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pre...tor-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...inian-attempt-seize-nuclear-plant-2022-09-03/
Russia says it foiled Ukrainian attempt to seize nuclear plant

Sept 3 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces attempted to capture the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in an attack on the facility on Friday night, Russia's defence ministry said in its daily briefing on Saturday.

The ministry said a Ukrainian naval force of more than 250 troops attempted to land on the coast of a lake near the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine at around 11 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Friday.

"Despite the presence of representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the Kyiv regime once again attempted to seize the plant," the defence ministry said.

Russia said its forces foiled the attack with strikes from military helicopters and fighter jets, destroying 20 Ukrainian vessels and causing others to scatter and call off the attack.

Reuters was unable to verify the report...
 
Update 101 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

SEP 12 2022

A second back-up power line to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been restored, enabling the operator to keep one line in reserve while the other provides the plant with the external electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential safety functions during shutdown, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) learnt at the site today.

In another development significant for nuclear safety at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a reactor unit that was shut down yesterday has now entered a cold shutdown state like the facility’s five other reactors, meaning it will require less power for cooling.

It was the ZNPP’s last operating reactor, and it was shut down after the restoration on Saturday of a 330 kilovolt (kV) power line allowed the plant to access off-site electricity from the grid instead of relying on the reactor itself for power. A 750/330 kV line has now also been restored and it is being used to provide the plant with power required for its safety functions, with the restored 330 kV line held in reserve. The two restored lines can both receive power from the grid through the switchyard of a nearby thermal power station.

Despite these developments related to the plant’s access to external power, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi emphasised that the nuclear safety and security situation at the plant – located in the middle of a war zone – remained precarious. The ZNPP’s four main external power lines are all down and it is not currently providing electricity to households, factories and others.

“A nuclear safety and security protection zone is urgently needed and I have begun initial consultations with the relevant Parties,” the Director General said in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors today.

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pre...tor-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
 
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