The IAEA inspected the ZNPP for the first time after the Kakhovka Reservoir dam burst

On June 15, a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headed by Director General Rafael Grossi arrived at Zaporizhzhya NPP, the largest in Europe (ZNPP), which is under the control of the Russian Federation. This is his third visit to the Zaporizhzhya NPP since the beginning of the NWO: he came there on September 1, 2022 and March 29, 2023. The current trip was postponed for a day due to “concern” about safety.

Following the inspection, Grossi said that the situation is serious, but the water level in a special cooling pond is still sufficient. He emphasized that the main joint task is to ensure the nuclear safety and security of ZNPP in the conditions of the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP and the shallowing of the reservoir of the same name. Earlier, on the day of the dam breach, June 6, Grossi had warned that a prolonged lack of water would disrupt the emergency diesel generators needed for cooling. According to him, if the water level in the nuclear power plant cooling pond is below 12.7 m, it will not be possible to continue pumping it. At the same time, ZNPP has a number of water sources alternative to the reservoir.

As Adviser to the Director General of Rosenergoatom Renat Karchaa said during the visit of the IAEA delegation, the water level in the ZNPP cooling pond is normal and is 16.65 m. reservoir cooler) and their waterproofing. Work has already been organized to drill artesian wells on the territory of the nuclear power plant.

On June 13, Grossi met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They discussed the steps needed to minimize risks and prevent incidents at ZNPP. Zelensky supported Grossi’s proposal to send a group of IAEA experts to the station and prepare proposals to overcome the consequences of a dam breach. The head of the IAEA in Kyiv said he was “very concerned” that the station could be affected by a UAF counteroffensive, Reuters wrote. On June 14, the ZAES.Officially Telegram channel reported that the plant was in a safe condition, five of its units were in a “cold shutdown”, and one more was in a “hot” one. At the same time, the Russian Acting Governor of the Zaporozhye Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, assured RIA Novosti that the destruction of the dam did not threaten the ZNPP.

“Today, we can say with confidence that this environmental catastrophe does not affect the operation of the station. Up to 10 meters there is no problem at all, below it it will be difficult, but the Soviet legacy allows us not even to use the Kakhovka reservoir at all in terms of water intake – we can take water from artesian wells, ”said Balitsky on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. According to Balitsky, the Zaporizhzhya NPP is currently operating in a “semi-normal mode” and does not produce electricity. Supervising the work of ZNPP “Rosatom“said that he did not see the need for its conservation or decommissioning.

Now the main thing is the water level not in the reservoir, but in the cooling pond, says Alexander Uvarov, editor-in-chief of Atominfo.ru. There, the level after the accident did not change, there is no immediate threat to the operation of the station, he adds. At the same time, the question remains what to do in a few months, since the pond has already lost its recharge, Uvarov notes.

The problem of cooling the Zaporizhzhya NPP is not relevant in the short term, all six of its reactors are actually standing idle, says nuclear power expert Valentin Gibalov. At the same time, the cooling for the residual energy release of fuel in the reactors and the spent fuel pool does not go through the cooling pond, but through special spray pools next to the blocks, the expert pointed out. The lack of water in shutdown mode can be easily compensated for even by railroad delivery, he said. When fuel is removed from a reactor, it needs to be cooled with water for about 7 to 10 years or taken to a wet storage facility in Russia using sophisticated infrastructure, but it’s easier to wait for the fuel to cool down on its own, Gibalov says.

The real problem, the expert believes, is that it is impossible to restart the nuclear power plant without altering the cooling system or restoring the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station and the reservoir. And any of these options will take a long time, so the status of the Zaporizhzhya NPP is in limbo, it is de facto not capable of generating energy on a regular basis, Gibalov notes. The expert doubts that drilling wells or supplying water from outside in other ways can provide such an opportunity.