Zaporizhia NPP relying on single off-site power line for more than week
Ukraine's 6 GW Zaporizhia NPP has been running on its only external 750 kV power line for more than a week after a second, backup 330 kV line was damaged, highlighting once again the extremely fragile nuclear safety situation, said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi.
"Nuclear power plants (NPPs) need a secure supply of external electricity to cool their reactors and for other essential nuclear safety and security functions. However, this has been a major challenge over the past three years, with Zaporizhia NPP temporarily losing all off-site power eight times," he said.
"The IAEA team continues to carry out walkdowns across Zaporizhia NPP as part of the work to monitor and assess nuclear safety and security," says the report.
"Further underlining the constant risks to nuclear safety, the IAEA team based at the site heard an explosion close to Zaporizhia NPP on February 12, coinciding with unconfirmed reports of a drone attack approximately 300 meters from the site. The team has over the past week continued to hear other daily explosions at varying distances from Zaporizhia NPP. No damage to the site has been reported," it reads.
"The IAEA remains in contact with both sides regarding the next rotation of IAEA personnel at Zaporizhia NPP, after it was delayed last week due to intense military activity in the area," it said.
"The IAEA team based at the site, which was granted unrestricted access to examine the impact of the explosion, conducts regular walkdowns and radiation measurements to independently monitor the situation. The team’s measurements continue to show normal gamma radiation dose rate values near the NSC (New Safe Confinement at Chornobyl NPP) compared to those recorded by the IAEA since it established a continuous presence at the site just over two years ago," the team said.
"The IAEA teams based at Ukraine’s other NPPs - Khmelnytsky, Rivne and Pivdennoukrainsk – have continued to report frequent air raid alarms over the past week and were also informed of the presence of drones within the areas surrounding the respective sites," the IAEA said.