A 330 kV back-up power line to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been disconnected as a result of damage caused by shelling, in the latest incident underlining the facility’s fragile supplies of electricity from the grid, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
The ZNPP, with all six reactors in shutdown, continues to receive the off-site electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions from the plant’s only remaining operational 750 kV external power line. There were four such lines before the current conflict in Ukraine.
The team of IAEA experts permanently stationed at ZNPP reported that its connection to the 330 kV Ferosplavna 1 back-up line was lost at 21:35 local time yesterday as a result of damage on the other side of the Dnipro River, some distance away from the plant itself. The extent of damage was not yet clear but work to repair the line is under way, the IAEA team added.
The Ferosplavna 1 was the ZNPP’s last functioning back-up power line and it is vital that it is restored as soon as possible, Grossi said. He reiterated that he is continuing his consultations with Ukraine and Russia aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible.
While there has been no shelling directly at the site since last month, the IAEA experts reported that they heard the sound of loud explosions on 30 December that appeared to come from a distance of a few hundred metres from the facility, in the area of the water channel connecting the nearby Zaporizhzhia thermal power station with the Dnipro River.
At the ZNPP, the IAEA team also reported that four more mobile diesel-fuelled boilers had begun operating over the previous week, bringing the total to eight out of nine delivered to the ZNPP with power in the range of 1–6.5 megawatts (MW). The nine boilers will provide about 34 MW of heating to the ZNPP site and to the nearby city of Enerhodar. On 20 December, the IAEA had reviewed the impact freezing temperatures may have on the external components of the reactors’ cooling system. The team concluded that the current low-to-freezing temperatures do not have a significant effect on the site’s nuclear safety and security at this time. The IAEA mission also reported that the Russia’s nuclear regulator, Rostekhnadzor, is planning to maintain a rotating team at the ZNPP.
The Advisor to the General Director of Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, Renat Karchaa, said damage to the 330 kV Ferosplavna 1 back-up was “uncritical” and would not affect the operation of the NPP. "The 330 kV line is damaged but the 750 kV line remains… While the second line is operating, this damage will not affect the operation of the station in any way, " he explained. Now specialists are engaged in restoring the damaged power line but the extent of the damage has yet to be fully clarified.
Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main Council of the Zaporozhye region administration said on 30 December that Ukrainian Armed Forces were firing at the NPP from three directions – from the cities of Nikopol and Marganets and the urban-type settlement of Krasnogrigoryevka in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
On 28 December, Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, and a former head of Rosatom, visited ZNPP. Rogov, on his Telegram channel said Kiriyenko “paid greatest attention to the issues of ensuring the safety of the plant, as well as to the measures taken to improve the reliability and performance of the NPP”. He added that Kiriyenko, together with ZNPP director Yuriy Chernichuk, also became acquainted with the conditions in which the employees of the enterprise were working. He stressed that all of the plant staff had concluded new labour contracts with Rosatom.
In an earlier update, IAEA’s Grossi had said diplomatic efforts to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone around ZNPP were making headway, “with the aim to agree and implement the much-needed measure soon” He was commenting after meeting senior Russian government officials in Moscow on 22 December, including Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev. Grossi said the hours-long meeting in was “another round of necessary discussions on the creation of a protection zone for the ZNPP.” He added: “It’s key that the zone focuses solely on preventing a nuclear accident. I am continuing my efforts towards this goal with a sense of utmost urgency.”
The consultations in Moscow involved representatives of several Russian agencies including the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, Rosatom, Rosgvardiya (National Guard) and Rostekhnadzor (regulator). In addition to Likhachev, among those attending were Rostechnadzor head Alexander Trembitsky; the head of the Main Directorate for the Protection of objects of Rosgvardiya, Vladimir Mashevsky; the Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Igor Vishnevetsky; and the head of the radiation, chemical and biological Protection troops of the Russian Armed Forces, Igor Kirillov.
Russian TV, which reported on the meeting, noted the issues on the agenda were “very sensitive: in particular, the creation of a protection zone at the NPP, improving the reliability of electricity and heat supply both at the site of the station itself and in the city of Energodar, where the strategically important facility is located”. The work of the permanent IAEA mission at the nuclear power plant was also discussed during the talks. “All the details of the meeting, of course, were not disclosed,” the report noted.
At the start of the meeting, Grossi said: "I am very happy to meet again with my colleagues, with whom we constantly communicate, and, of course, with diplomats. I hope for a thorough dialogue and progress in our work." Rosatom head Alexey Likhchev replied: "We are also very happy to see you in our building, this building literally breathes history. The first Soviet nuclear project was implemented here." Grossi had earlier had separate talks with Likhachev.
Rosatom’s press service noted that the positions were marked by "significant proximity". The statement added: "During the meeting, approaches to the creation of a nuclear and physical security protection zone at Zaporizhzhia NPP (ZNPP) were discussed. A significant similarity of positions on the draft declaration on the creation of such a zone was noted. Consultations will continue with an understanding of the need to reach a mutually acceptable text as soon as possible."
Following the talks between Grossi and Likhachev, Rosatom stated that a mutually acceptable text of the document on the security zone around ZNPP will be prepared as soon as possible after the necessary consultations. Rosatom also noted that the conversation with Grossi was substantive, useful and frank. IAEA has yet to formally comment on the meetings.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that there were no Russian heavy weapons at the plant after Grossi said the creation of a protective zone would provide for the principle that no shots could be fired at the plant. Russia took control of the plant in March and sunsequently formalised its ownership of the facility – a move which is rejected by Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom which continues to insist that the plant is Ukrainian. An IAEA permanent mission of inspectors has been at the plant since September.
Earlier in December Russia began construction of a shield over the used fuel storage facility at ZNPP to protect it from shelling of the plant, which has continued. On 22 December, the Russian appointed Director of ZNPP, Yuri Chernichuk said that despite all the trials the plant had undergone in 2022 he hoped for “a bright, promising future". He said he expects that, in the near future, all six power units of the plant will be restarted. "Six units operating at rated capacity is our goal, which we are confident that we will implement in the very near future," he told Rossiya-24 TV. Earlier two of the six ZNPP power units were switched to hot shutdown mode. The other four are shut down.
Likhachev, for his part, in an interview with Izvestia, said measures were being put in place to improve the reliability of ZNPP. He noted that this task despite difficulties associated with the threat from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has been solved by staff changes at the station, including insuring that all the employees of the nuclear power plant have worked at it before. Other major work is being done in parallel, he added. "Not a single incident has been allowed at the station. We have taken a number of measures to improve the reliability of the nuclear power plant. Now we are actively engaged in its heat supply. We are ensuring its stable condition and heat supply to the city of Energodar, which is also very badly damaged… A lot of work is underway to support people," he said.
Image: Sergei Kiriyenko (right), First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Russian Federation, on a recent visit to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
