As continuous war in Ukraine continues to heighten worries of a potentially catastrophic radiation disaster, Europe’s largest nuclear facility has announced preparations to shut down its lone remaining functioning reactor.
The stability of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian-controlled nuclear reactor in southern Ukraine that is one of the world’s largest nuclear power stations, has been a cause of worldwide anxiety for weeks. Repeated shelling in the vicinity of the plant has severed transmission lines that connect it to the local power grid and provide the electricity required to run the cooling systems for the reactors. Threatening the plant’s cooling systems raises the probability of a meltdown.
Energoatom reported on Sunday that Zaporizhzhia has been reconnected to the Ukrainian power grid, allowing experts to shut down the city’s last active reactor in an effort to avert a radiation calamity.
As a result of shelling, the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant lost its external power supply a week ago when all of its power lines were severed. It had been running in “island mode” for several days, supplying electricity for vital cooling systems using its lone operable reactor.
Energoatom reported late Saturday that one of these power lines was restored “to its operating capacity,” allowing the plant’s safety and security systems to use electricity from the Ukrainian power grid.
In May 1, 2022, a Russian soldier defends a portion of the massive Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station complex on Russian-controlled territory in southeast Ukraine. AP
The business stated in a statement, “Therefore, the decision was made to shut down power unit No. 6 and transfer it to the safest mode — cold shutdown.”
Energoatom stated that the possibility of another power outage remained high, in which case emergency diesel generators would be required to keep the reactors cool and prevent a nuclear catastrophe. The chief executive officer of the company told The Associated Press on Thursday that the factory only had diesel fuel for 10 days.
The facility, one of the ten largest nuclear power plants in the world, has been seized by Russian forces since the beginning of the war. Both Ukraine and Russia have placed blame on the other for the bombardment that destroyed the power connections linking the facility to the grid.
Similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Energoatom reaffirmed its call for Russian forces to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and for the establishment of a “demilitarized zone” around it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. nuclear inspector with two specialists on-site, reported to the Associated Press on Sunday that external power had been restored at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.
“After yesterday’s restoration of the power line — which connects the ZNPP to the switchyard of a nearby thermal power station — the operator of the ZNPP shut down its last operating reactor this morning,” the IAEA said in an emailed statement. The reactor had been providing the plant with the necessary power for the past week after it was disconnected from the grid. This morning, IAEA personnel at the ZNPP were told of these new events, which were also confirmed by Ukraine.
Director-General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi has called for a safe zone surrounding the plant in order to prevent a catastrophe.
“This is the only way to prevent a nuclear accident,” said Grossi in a statement released on Friday.