CHRONICLE OF A TRAGEDY | SPECIAL REPORT


to generate heat and needs continuous cooling. If we add the dry spent fuel storage, then, in terms of the number of cassettes, this is the equivalent of about 40 full reactors. All of them are at significant risk due to hostilities. For the units, this is not the risk of a direct hit by a projectile but the risk of a failure of heat removal systems and subsequent melting of the fuel. For the dry storage, it is precisely the risk of disintegrity as a result of a direct hit. The situation with station safety is deteriorating. Despite


the state of shutdown, the units need maintenance and repair. All modernisation programmes have been postponed for an indefinite period. Repairs have been reduced to a minimum. Water circuits need treatment, and the treatment systems need steam which is not available. Indeed, due to the military occupation, the station keeps suffering from a shortage of everything necessary for safe operation. In mid- September, Energoatom managed to deliver a convoy of 25 trucks with spare parts, materials, chemicals and diesel fuel. This is an important achievement by the operating organisation.


Rocket attacks systematically target the Ukrainian energy system Rocket attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in October led to serious imbalances in the power system and energy outages throughout the country. This, of course, did not add to the safety case at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and the rest Ukrainian nuclear plants. The liberation of this territory by the Ukrainian army


doesn’t seem too likely in the short term and the station is preparing for the severest winter in the entire history of its operation. Even in this southern region of Ukraine, in winter temperatures can plunge to -20 degrees Celsius. If an operating unit needs the removal of 2000 MW of heat the current situation is the opposite – a frost can create significant problems at shut down and almost cold units. The city with 50,000 residents, during all the years of


its existence, was heated by the operating station. Now the residents who remained in the city – there is less than half the usual population – are waiting with horror for the approaching winter. With no electricity, due to blackouts, many will fight for survival. With the city all but deserted, electricity blackouts, water


shortages and Internet failures have become commonplace. Ukrainian mobile operators haven’t operated for a long


time. Instead, there is a strange operator with a numerical title and Russian telephone codes, apparently using the captured Ukrainian equipment. The situation with access to the territory under Ukrainian control is constantly deteriorating and sometimes it seems impossible to flee the occupied region. After the pseudo-referendum, Russia announced the


annexation of the occupied territories. The station ended up not only in the occupied but in annexed territory. The logic of illegitimate actions led to the declaration of the station as property of Russia. Rosatom immediately created Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant enterprise and appointed a director – the former chief engineer of the Russian Balakovo plant. Immediately after that, the real plant director, Igor Murashov, was kidnapped and later brought out of the occupied territory. Later, three more people from the plant management were kidnapped. Out of 11,000 personnel, only about 6,700 remained at the station by the end of October. The “new” head of the station is using threats and


incentives to force the personnel to sign contracts with Rosatom. Energoatom tries to convince the staff not to do this, as it destroys the station control system and legitimises the annexation. In addition, such actions are a criminal offence under Ukrainian law on collaboration. The psychological state of the personnel, one of the most important elements of nuclear safety, is terrible. The contribution of this factor to the deterioration of safety is significant. Adding this on top of the technological problems caused by shelling and occupation creates a situation in which there is practically no reason for optimism. Such is the current sad situation at the station.


Zaporizhzhia is becoming a new hybrid Chornobyl. It is no longer just the title of a nuclear plant, it is a term for the terrible state in which this nuclear plant has found itself. True, it is not yet in a state of an accident that has happened but it is in a continuous emergency condition. There are no releases of radiation but there are constant violations of safe operation. Nuclear materials have not lost their integrity but the number of barriers has decreased and they are getting thinner. The conditions under which the station is being operated are on a knife edge. Lessons can be learned from an event that is in the past. Right now, it is impossible to do this: the emergency state of Zaporizhzhia plant continues and anything can happen. ■


Left: Damage at an overpass between unit 6 and the maintenance- chemical building reveals how close the war has come to nuclear disaster Photo Credit: Fredrik Dahl/IAEA


www.neimagazine.com | November 2022 | 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45