An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team has visited a substation critical to nuclear safety and security in Ukraine and reported damage as a result of recently reported military activities, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
Following reports of the damage, the IAEA promptly dispatched a team to one of the affected substations that had been targeted. The IAEA team conducted a thorough walkdown of the area, gaining immediate, first-hand insights into the damage and assessing its impact on the safety and security of Ukraine’s NPPs.
The team confirmed the damage to the substation’s equipment and determined that there was a negative impact to the reliability of the off-site power supply to Ukrainian NPPs. “Attacks on Ukraine’s power grid represent an ever-present danger to nuclear safety and security to all nuclear facilities in Ukraine,” Grossi said.
While restoration activities on the power grid are on-going, one NPP remains without one of its off-site power lines and further repair work is needed. The IAEA said it will continue to monitor the situation.
Earlier, the IAEA had been informed of military activity in Ukraine that had led to damage to substations critical to nuclear safety and security. IAEA teams at both South Ukraine NPP (SUNPP) and Khmelnitsky NPP (KhNPP) had reported that each of the plants had lost access to one of their off-site power lines. The IAEA team at the Rivne NPP (RNPP) reported that the plant had reduced the power of two of its four units at the request of the grid operator.
“The dangers to nuclear safety continue to be very real and ever-present,” said Grossi. “I once again call for maximum military restraint in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and full respect of the seven indispensable pillars for nuclear safety and security.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it described as Russian attacks on substations critical to supplying external power for Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Russia has carried out “targeted strikes on such substations”, a ministry statement said.
Meanwhile, the IAEA continues to implement its comprehensive programme of assistance to Ukraine. In October, the Agency delivered a package of support under the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to the Kherson Oblast (ISAMKO), established in response to the catastrophic flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023.
As part of this package, Ukrainian Meteorological Institute received a high precision isotopic water analyser to support Ukraine’s environmental and hydrological monitoring efforts. Staff of the Institute also received training in Vienna on how to build essential skills for practical application and operation of the received analyser in support of conducting accurate isotopic analyses of water samples. The assistance was funded with support from Japan.
ISAMKO is designed to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to address the environmental, health, and infrastructural impacts of the disaster. The programme includes the procurement of equipment and supplies, technical advice, and capacity building in key areas such as civil structure integrity, food and water safety, public and animal health, and agricultural recovery.
Previous deliveries under ISAMKO include diagnostic equipment for the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital, radiation monitoring equipment for the South Ukrainian Geological Company and the regional state laboratory in Mykolaiv province received a generator and a real-time PCR cycler (Polymerase Chain Reaction, a nuclear-derived technique) for fast and accurate analysis to help it fight the spread of disease as a result of the flooding.
“The IAEA is helping Ukraine not only uphold nuclear safety and security, but also respond to the environmental and health impacts of the Kakhovka dam flooding,” said Grossi. “Even amid war, building national capacity with nuclear-derived tools is essential to protect people and ecosystems.”
The training delivered for the staff of the Ukrainian Meteorological Institute is the first in a series of trainings already planned for different ISAMKO beneficiaries, with three additional training events planned in the coming months.
Further to this assistance work under ISAMKO, the IAEA continued its deliveries related to nuclear safety and security and medical assistance, bringing the total to 169 shipments of essential equipment and supplies to Ukraine since the start of the armed conflict.
As part of these deliveries, the SUNPP received personal protective equipment and medical units at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), and RNPP and SUNPP received various medical supplies. The Slavutych City Hospital, the National Research Center for Radiation Medicine (NRCRM), Varash Hospital, and South Ukraine City Hospital, providing medical care for the NPP personnel, received a range of medical equipment and supplies.
All these deliveries were made possible through funding from Italy, Japan, and Sweden. With these deliveries, priority equipment and supplies worth over €20m ($23m) has reached Ukraine since the start of the conflict.
