Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi stated that the situation with off-site power supply at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains extremely unstable, reports UNN with reference to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Details
The concern of the IAEA Director is due to the fact that the largest facility in Europe currently relies on only one power line to perform basic nuclear safety functions.
The last backup power line of the ZNPP with a voltage of 330 kilovolts (kV) remains disconnected three weeks after the station lost access to it on May 7, and it is not clear when it will be restored. As a result, the six-reactor station is completely dependent on a single operating 750 kV line to receive external electricity needed to operate station nuclear safety systems and cool nuclear fuel
Since the beginning of the conflict in early 2022, the ZNPP has lost access to all external power supply eight times, but it was usually restored within a day.
Although the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has not been operating for about three years, its active reactor zones and spent nuclear fuel still require constant cooling, which requires electricity to operate water pumps. For this reason, the extremely vulnerable energy situation remains a serious problem, and we are monitoring it very closely
Recall
As UNN reported, the day before, an IAEA representative stated that there are currently no signs of preparations for the launch of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. This was after Ukraine complained about information about the possible connection of the ZNPP to the Russian network.
A few days ago, the Representation of Ukraine to the OSCE and the UN reported that Russia continues to use the captured Zaporizhzhia NPP as a military base and an instrument of political blackmail, and also systematically obstructs the work of experts of the IAEA mission.