Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

 There are renewed concerns over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, which was seized by Russian troops early in the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday (July 5) said the Russians have placed what appear to be explosives on the roofs of several power units at the plant,

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, said on Wednesday that it had so far not seen any indications of mines or explosives, but “with military tension and activities increasing in the region…our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground”.

Where is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant?

Zaporizhzhia is the administrative centre of the Ukrainian oblast of the same name, located to the southeast of the country on the banks of the Dnipro river as it winds its way to the Black Sea.

The plant in Zaporizhzhia, one of four nuclear power stations in Ukraine, was built through the 1980s by the erstwhile Soviet Union. The plant at Zaporizhzhia has six reactors (there are a total of 15 in Ukraine)

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power PlantRussian forces attacked the plant in the night of March 3, 2022, and took control of it relatively easily.

What is the war situation around the plant?

buildings inside the nuclear complex were hit, though no significant damage was reported. Radiation levels around the site were stable, which meant there was no leakage.

In mid-August, the external power supply line to the complex was disrupted due to the fighting, and the station had to fall back temporarily on emergency generators.

Is there a real risk to the plant from the fighting?

This is the first time that a nuclear installation has been caught in a military conflict, that too one that is in operation. There is no doubt that the situation is extremely volatile, and the possibility of something going horribly wrong remains open.

That said, it is also true that modern nuclear reactors are built to withstand considerable shock and impact. They have several layers of reinforced steel and concrete, and also elaborate fire security systems. Most modern reactors can survive earthquakes of magnitude 8 or higher. They are also designed to shut down automatically when they sense major natural hazards.

The Zaporizhzhia reactors are said to be quite safe.

Also, buildings and water pools used for storing used and unused nuclear fuel are not as sturdily built as the reactors themselves, and can suffer significant damage in heavy fighting.

If not bombs and missiles, what other threats could the plant be facing?

Loss of electricity is the more realistic danger that has already visited the Zaporizhzhia station briefly. Since February 2022, there have been seven instances of complete power loss from external sources, forcing the plant to rely on temporary emergency diesel generators for electricity, according to the IAEA.

Nuclear plants have to depend on external electricity for a variety of needs, including the operation of water pumping systems to keep the reactors cool.

Cooling systems are critical to the safe operation of nuclear reactors, which see temperatures in the range of thousands of degree Celsius. To keep water pumping through the reactors, an external power supply is needed.

Nuclear stations have elaborate back-up generators in case of disruption of power. But these generators can supply electricity only for a limited time. And nuclear reactors, even if they are shut down, can take days, sometimes weeks, to cool down. A non-functional cooling system can lead to the reactor melting, or exploding, under tremendous heat, resulting in uncontrolled release of nuclear radiation.

This is what happened in the Fukushima disaster of 2011.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear station is reported to have some of these ‘passive’ systems as well, but it is not clear how effective they might be in case of a prolonged power outage.

Is there a possibility of human intervention of a non-military nature as well?

There are other threats as well. Rogue elements could try to utilise the war situation to steal nuclear material from the site. Ukraine is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state. Each of its nuclear facilities is under IAEA safeguards. That means every bit of nuclear material and fuel, every kilogram of uranium and every gram of plutonium, has to be accounted for and reported.

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