Ukraine’s Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) still has enough essential staff for its current reduced level of operations, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in his latest update. However, the continued lack of maintenance personnel on-site could negatively impact nuclear safety and security and is not sustainable.
Since Russia took control of ZNPP in March 2022, the Russian national guard has been protecting the station and in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree formally transferring ZNPP to Russian jurisdiction under nuclear utility Rosenergoatom (part of Rosatom). A Russian Federal State Unitary Enterprise. Zaporizhia NPP was established by Rosenergoatom to operate the plant. However, Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom still claims ownership of the plant. Reports by Russian military analysts suggest that retaking control of ZNPP is one of the objectives of the coming Ukrainian offensive.
“It is not sustainable to maintain this major nuclear power plant for extended periods with only essential staffing. The safety of the plant, even in a shutdown state, requires adequate maintenance of plant equipment, as well as other regular and important work. It is concerning that the established maintenance programme was not followed for many months now,” Grossi said.
Russian authorities earlier announced that they were evacuating vulnerable civilians (children, elderly and disabled) from the ZNPP operator’s town of Energodar, in anticipation of offensive action by the Ukrainian military. However, Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom issued a statement saying this did not include ZNPP staff. Nevertheless, Grossi noted that evacuation of residents from Enerhodar was creating further uncertainty about the staffing situation. The IAEA team stationed at the plant observed that there have been fewer staff on-site over the previous week, but confirmed that essential personnel working in the main control rooms were available and present during each shift.
The IAEA experts were informed that the past week’s reduced number of staff was due to the recent holiday period and the current situation in the region, with plant management adding that it remained a priority to have sufficient staff to meet all relevant regulatory requirements, including those for nuclear and industrial safety.
ZNPP Director Yuri Chernichuk said the station will start operating normally on 15 May after a week off but added that, if desired, employees can leave for safer areas of the region. "Colleagues, starting tomorrow we are working normally. The number of personnel on the site is determined by your direct supervisor, based on the production tasks of the division," he said in the official Telegram channel of the station. At the same time, he noted, employees can go to safe areas of the region if they wish. "Those employees of the station who make a decision on temporary relocation should contact the human resources department to organise it and ensure that the issue of payment conditions is resolved,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Main Council of the regional administration said ZNPP employees were receiving threats from Ukrainian authorities. He told Ria Novosti: "They try to intimidate people by publishing their personal data on social networks, as well as threatening them with violence and death. This is done both publicly and in person by sending messages through various messengers. All this is an attempt by the Kiev regime to disrupt the recovery processes at the NPP.
Grossi expressed concern that the challenging staffing situation could affect the ZNPP’s ability to properly maintain systems that are important for nuclear safety and security. “In the medium and longer term, this is increasing the risk of a nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment. There must be staff available to properly maintain the ZNPP and to ensure it remains in a safe state at all times,” he said. He added that the IAEA team was closely monitoring developments and that the experts, in recent days, had visited Enerhodar, and also engaged with staff in the plant’s reactor control rooms and elsewhere.
“There is little doubt that the plant is experiencing a very difficult staffing situation. As the plant’s six reactors are all in a shutdown state – thereby requiring fewer operating staff – our assessment is that the current level of operating staff is sufficient, for now. But this is not a way to operate a major nuclear power plant safely, securely, and sustainably,” he said.
The IAEA team at ZNPP previously reported about a significant impact on the plant’s maintenance capability due to reduced staff, absence of external contractors who performed part of the maintenance work in the past, and a lack of spare parts needed for the maintenance, including critical components. Grossi said he was increasingly concerned about nuclear safety and security in general at the ZNPP at a time of heightened speculation of future military operations in the area and elsewhere. The IAEA experts at the site have continued to hear shelling and gunfire.
Further underlining the nuclear safety and security risks, the ZNPP continues to rely on the only remaining functioning 750 kilovolt (kV) power line for the external electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions. The IAEA team continues to monitor the actions taken for restoring other sources of off-site power but has not had access to the nearby Zaporizhia Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP), despite assurances by Rosatom that this would be granted. The ZTPP operates its 330 kV open switchyard, through which back-up power has in the past been provided to the ZNPP. Grossi underlined the importance of the IAEA gaining access to the ZTPP as soon as possible.
IAEA experts also monitor the height of the Kakhovka Reservoir. The height of the reservoir has risen significantly over the past month raising concerns that the high levels could adversely affect the plant. The height is currently 17.07 metres. The elevation of the ZNPP site is 22 metres, approximately five metres above the current height of the reservoir. The possible effects on the plant from flooding were analysed as part of stress tests conducted following the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011. Based on the conservative scenario of all upstream dams failing, the analysis demonstrated that the water levels could reach 19.6 metres, still below the site elevation. At water heights above 17.7 metres, water from the reservoir would flow directly into the cooling pond of ZNPP. This could adversely affect the quality of the cooling water but would not affect the nuclear safety of the plant.
In addition, if the height of the reservoir were to continue to rise to such a level that the Kakhovka Dam, located approximately 100 kilometres downstream from the ZNPP, was no longer able to retain water, then the water levels near ZNPP and the near-by town and villages would fall. However, IAEA assesses that this would not pose any immediate threat to nuclear safety and security.
“I remain engaged in intense negotiations with all the involved parties to secure the protection of the ZNPP,” Grossi noted. “Everybody would lose if there were a nuclear accident that could have serious consequences for human health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond. Protecting the plant should be a clear win-win for all sides. I will not give up until this has been achieved,” he stressed.
According to Reuters, citing “four diplomats”, Grossi plans to present an agreement with Russia and Ukraine on protecting ZNPP to the UN Security Council this month. “It looks promising,” one diplomat said about securing an agreement. Others said Ukraine, which long opposed the plan, now backed it while Russia’s position was less clear. The diplomat added that Grossi was liaising with Switzerland, which holds the monthly Security Council presidency, on the date.
Grossi had originally proposed establishment of a “protection zone” within a defined radius around the plant, but that had now been abandoned. Other principles that diplomats have been listing for months include barring heavy weapons from the plant, even though there is no clear definition of what heavy weapons are.
Two diplomats said told Reuters that the principles also included no military personnel at the plant, although Russia has argued that armed men present there do not meet that definition. Another recently added item is that there should be no attacks on the staff operating the plant, one diplomat said. A third diplomat said the principles had been “refined slightly”, without elaborating, indicating that the situation remains fluid.
Reuters said Grossi had reached a similar stage in talks in February following discussions with the then-Maltese presidency of the Security Council. However, diplomats said that presentation never happened as it became clear that Ukraine opposed it.
Rogov has once again warned that the Ukrainian Armed forces planned to seize ZNPP. He dismissed recent statements to the contrary by Petro Kotin, head of Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom, as a "red herring". Rogov said Ukrainian forces were planning a "special operation to cross the Dnieper". Ukrainian troops want to seize a bridgehead and get as close as possible to ZNPP knowing that the Russian forces will never undertake any military action near the plant.
Kotin had told CNN senior correspondent Sam Kiley that Ukrainian forces will bypass ZNPP as they move south as part of their counteroffensive. He said Ukraine could regain control of ZNPP without use of force, simply by cutting the supply lines to the facility from Crimea after Ukrainian troops “liberate” the city of Melitopol.
Image courtesy of RIA news agency
