3 things to know about the Zaporizhia power plant
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Its six reactors and its total capacity of nearly 6,000 megawatts make it the largest in Europe. She now finds herself in the middle of the conflict zone.
Since its capture by the Russian army in early March, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has remained relatively spared from artillery fire and fighting. But the situation has changed significantly in recent days. The Russian army would have deployed launchers of missiles on the site, according to the owner of the Ukrainian operator Energoatom and bombings would have taken place near the installation. A tense situation that prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting this Thursday, August 11.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe
With six reactors, with a total capacity of nearly 6,000 megawatts, Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the ninth in the world. It usually provides electricity to around four million homes. In normal times, the site produces a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity and almost half of its nuclear energy. The plant is located in southern Ukraine on the Dnieper River, 525 kilometers from Chernobyl.
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If the site is occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian personnel continue to operate it, said a press release from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), referring to a situation “extremely difficult” because of “constant pressure on staff“. Rafael Mariano Grossi, its managing director, reiterated his “growing fearsconcerning the conditions in which these employees find themselves and theimpact of such conditions on plant safety and security“.
When was this plant built?
Construction of the first reactor at the Zaporizhia power plant began in 1979, when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. It was inaugurated in 1985 and the last reactor was commissioned in 1995. The six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 reactors have a lifespan of between 40 and 60 years, or more with advances in technology.
What is the technology used?
The design of these pressurized water reactors, considered to be among the safest, comes from those fitted to nuclear submarines and differs from those of Chernobyl, moderate to graphite and initially designed to produce plutonium and not electricity.
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The power plants at Balakovo, on the Volga in southern Russia, and Kozloduy, on the Danube in Bulgaria, have similar technology. The Zaporijjia VVER-1000s are powered by fuel enriched in the fissile isotope Uranium-235. They operate using steam heated by the core, but unlike other reactors, the nuclear-contaminated steam is not used to turn the turbines, but to heat another circuit of uncontaminated steam which then turns the turbines. . This technique makes it possible to maintain a relatively low level of radioactivity for the employees of the plant.
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