The precarious nuclear safety and security situation in Ukraine during the conflict is underlined at Ukraine’s three operating NPPs, with four of the country’s nine reactors decreasing output following attacks that further destabilised the electrical grid, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in his latest update.
Two of the plants – Khmelnitsky and Rivne – had already lowered production of electricity as a result of military activities earlier in November, he said. Both facilities have reduced production further after they each lost the connection to one of their high-voltage power lines. The IAEA teams based at these two sites also had to seek shelter during air raid alarms. Ukraine’s third operating NPP, South Ukraine, also lost its connection to a high-voltage power line. The plant reported detecting 11 drones overnight, one kilometre from the site. “Military activity continues to affect the power grid throughout Ukraine,” Director General Grossi told the IAEA Board of Governors meeting.
The IAEA has organised two new deliveries under its comprehensive programme of assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total to 176 since the start of the conflict. Under an Agency programme supporting Ukraine in managing the consequences of the Kakhovka dam destruction in mid-2023, the Mykolaiv Regional Laboratory of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection received laboratory equipment and supplies.
Under the medical assistance programme for NPP personnel, the medical unit of the Khmelnitsky NPP received decorporation and chelating agents, used for removing radioactive substances from the body following an accident. The deliveries were supported with funding from Belgium and Japan.
