Ukraine update | News


Chornobyl safeguards resumed – IAEA Update


Ukraine Nuclear security On 9 May the International Atomic Energy Agency issued the following statement, Update 75, from the director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi.


“Remote transmission of safeguards data from Ukraine’s Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has been fully re-established. This resulted from the deployment of new transmission channels based on satellite technologies and of other technical work conducted by the Agency since the visit of safeguards inspectors and technicians to the Chornobyl NPP, 26-27 April 2022. This is the first time that remote data from all sites where such systems are in place in Ukraine, including all nuclear power plants and associated spent fuel storage facilities, has been transferred in full to the IAEA Headquarters since the two months interruption at the Chornobyl NPP.


“This is a very important step for the IAEA to continue to implement


safeguards in Ukraine. However, implementing safeguards also includes in-field verification activities. The situation at Zaporizhzhya NPP continues to be challenging owing to the presence of Russian forces and Rosatom personnel at the site. Although the IAEA


Rivne Khmelnytskyy Lviv South Ukraine Connected


Temporarily shut down/in reserve


Under construction Decommissioned Destroyed


Operational status of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants as of 11 May. Shaded area is occupied by Russian forces.


Odesa Donetsk Zaporizhzhya Chornobyl Kyiv


continues to adjust its safeguards activities, the situation is unsustainable. I have therefore proposed to lead a visit to Zaporizhzhya NPP, including safeguards inspectors and nuclear safety and security experts, after the necessary consultations and at the earliest opportunity”. Ukraine has separately informed the IAEA that there had been no significant developments related to nuclear safety and security in the country since 8 May.


Regarding the country’s 15 operational reactors at four NPPs, Ukraine said seven of them are currently connected to the grid, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP, two at the Rivne NPP, two at the South Ukraine NPP, and one at the Khmelnytskyy NPP. The eight other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance or held in reserve. Safety systems remain operational at the four NPPs, and they also continue to have off-site power available.


Government ‘sharpens toolbox’ for energy supply


Germany Energy security Germany’s federal government has sharpened the tools available to combat the escalating crisis on the energy markets by updating its 1975 Energy Security Act. The amended law will allow the government to issue ordinances that put companies operating critical infrastructure under trusteeship, and if security of supply cannot otherwise be guaranteed, expropriation of such companies will also be possible. A number of both gas reserves and oil refineries in Germany are owned and operated by Russian companies. Economy and climate minister Robert Habeck said Russia’s war


against Ukraine has led to a tense energy situation: “Prices are high, uncertainty is great, risks are present. … It is a matter of doing everything possible to maintain basic supplies.” The law also prescribes that gas storage facility closures now have to be notified and approved by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). Furthermore, price adjustment rules along the entire value chain are to be permitted in the event of a gas delivery shortage. “The aim of these price adjustment regulations is to maintain market mechanisms and supply chains as long as possible and to prevent cascading effects,” the ministry states.


In view of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, the European Union is considering an embargo on Russian oil and the German government has said that it will cancel all Russian oil imports by the end of the year. Minister Habeck is in discussions in Poland to cover alternative import routes for oil. Crude oil imports from Russia accounted for about 35 % of Germany’s oil consumption last year; the refineries of Schwedt and Leuna in eastern Germany, which obtain their crude via pipelines from Russia, are particularly dependent. While in Poland, the dependence on Russian oil is 64 %.


Russia halts gas shipments to Poland and Bulgaria Russia Gas supply


Russia has responded to the West’s escalating arms shipments and economic penalties by halting national gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as well as threatening further unspecified retaliation. It was the toughest response yet against the USA-led alliance that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has accused of waging a proxy war following the invasion of Ukraine. The cut off was clearly a warning sign that Germany – hugely dependent on Russian gas


– could be next. Russia is sending a message that it believes it could bring considerable pain to Europe without firing a shot. European natural gas prices surged as much as 28 % on 26 April, and the euro’s value fell to its lowest point against the dollar in five years.


Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, commented that the EU had been preparing for the possibility that Russia might halt natural gas deliveries. Nonetheless, she said, the Russian move was


an attempt “to use gas as an instrument of blackmail.” Poland and Bulgaria will receive gas from EU countries but have ample stocks for the immediate future.


The stated reason for halting gas deliveries was the refusal by Poland and Bulgaria to pay in rubles, a new requirement Russia announced in March, despite the fact that its foreign contracts generally call for payment in dollars or euros. Compliance would subvert the EU’s financial sanctions on Russia and help prop up the battered ruble.


www.modernpowersystems.com | May 2022 | 5


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