FILE …. an IAEA team at a damaged electrical sub-station in Enerhodar in June 2024. Photo: IAEA
NUCLEAR WATCH
War in Ukraine
Continual gunfire and drone attacks are ensuring nuclear safety remains in jeopardy in Ukraine, according to the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (or ZNPP), a team they based there have reported hearing shelling, explosions and gunfire almost every day.
The IAEA says that earlier this month, a training centre at the plant had its roof damaged in a drone strike on July 13 with no reports of casualties.
The team was not allowed to inspect the centre, which is located outside the site perimeter, due to security concerns, the IAEA says.
The agency also says the ZNPP’s off-site power supply remains extremely fragile with the plant reduced to just one single power line for almost three months compared to 10 power lines before the war started.
In the nearby city of Enerhodar, where most ZNPP staff live, there was a power blackout on July 17 after the main power line was damaged, the IAEA team was told.
The team also witnessed shelling damage to some buildings when they visited the city two days later while a forest fire nearby was safely extinguished.
The IAEA says its team is still carrying walkdowns across the ZNPP site to monitor safety, monitor testing of three emergency diesel generators and visit the containment and safety system rooms of two reactor units.
The team is also talking to plant management about different options for refilling the plant’s cooling pond after Kakhovka dam was destroyed by Russia two years ago.
At Ukraine’s other operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) – Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine – three out of nine reactor units are in shutdown for refuelling and maintenance.
At the Khmelnytskyy and South Ukraine plants, the IAEA teams were told that on July 18, drones were detected a few kilometres away with flashes of light and explosions reported.
DELIVERIES CONTINUE
The IAEA also gave Ukraine a freight vehicle that can transport radioactive material, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi says.
The custom-designed truck was funded by the European Union (EU) and Sweden.
The IAEA boss says that since the war started, they have co-ordinated deliveries of technical equipment and medical supplies.
“These deliveries are part of our overall efforts aimed at preventing a nuclear accident during this war,” Grossi says.
Other deliveries included equipment for a state laboratory in Mykolaiv Province, devastated by the destruction of the dam, for fast and accurate analysis to fight the spread of disease as a result of flooding.
