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Military activity around ZNPP steps up
Ukraine Update
The International Atomic Energy Agency is continuing to monitor observance of the five concrete principles aimed at protecting Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) during the military conflict, where nuclear safety and security remain precarious, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on 9 May in the IAEA’s Update 227. During the week of 1-8 May, the IAEA team stationed at the ZNPP have heard military activities on most days, including artillery and rocket fire some distance away from the plant, as well as small arms fire both near to and further away from the site.
On 8 May IAEA experts on site reported that there was an air raid alarm with restrictions on movement outside of buildings for about 90 minutes, which the ZNPP informed the team was allegedly due to drones being present in the area of the cooling pond. The experts did not hear any explosion during the period of the restriction on movement. Earlier on 8 May however another air raid alarm was heard, again restricting outside movement and restricting the team’s planned walkdown within the site.
The persistent dangers facing Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (NPP) were underlined early in April, when the site was
targeted in several drone strikes. The IAEA is also aware of reports alleging that a training base for drone operators as well as drone launch pads have been deployed near the ZNPP’s reactor unit 6 and its training centre. The IAEA experts have not seen any evidence of drones being launched, or the presence of training facilities or launching pads, within the site perimeter, but have requested access to the rooftop of a nearby laboratory building. The ZNPP has informed the IAEA team that the request is under consideration.
Staffing at ZNPP
Regarding the staffing situation at the plant, ZNPP has informed the IAEA team that it currently has about 5000 staff, which represents an increase from last year, but still significantly fewer than it had before the conflict.
ZNPP has informed the IAEA that nominal staffing levels for nuclear power plants operated by Rosatom are significantly lower than the corresponding staffing levels of Ukraine. The plant said it was continuing to hire personnel and currently has 800 open positions. Nevertheless, the ZNPP said that it has recruited enough qualified staff, including the required number of authorised operators for the main control rooms, for the current
Ukraine’s air defences are under strain
Ukrainian air defences have been intercepting most Russian missiles, but in recent months more and more have made it through, crippling Ukraine’s ability to protect major infrastructure and plunging cities into darkness.
A New York Times analysis of daily Ukrainian military reports shows a major shift. Kyiv reported intercepting more than 80 % of the missiles last May. That rate has now dropped to less than half, as Ukraine calls for more supplies and Russia fires larger barrages that overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and faster missiles that are harder to shoot down.
shutdown status of the units. However, IAEA experts continue to be prevented from freely talking to main control room staff, affecting the Agency’s ability to independently assess the knowledge and experience of these personnel that are essential to maintaining nuclear safety at the ZNPP.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the IAEA teams at the Khmelnytskyy, Rivne, and South Ukraine NPPs as well as at the Chornobyl site reported that nuclear safety and security continues to be maintained.
500 MW BESS facility proposed for UK site
UK Energy storage Statera Energy has submitted a planning application for a battery energy storage system at Culham Campus – formerly known as UKAEA Culham Science Centre – in Oxfordshire, UK. The proposals require development of 7 hectares of the 26.8
hectare site. A remaining 16 hectares are being set aside to re-establish a registered public park and garden with new woodland and grassland habitats and provide a significant 50 % uplift in biodiversity. An historically important tree belt to the north of the site will be restored using 170 new native trees, re- establishing parts of the Nuneham Courtenay Park and Garden. If consented, the Culham BESS is scheduled to connect to the Culham substation in 2027, when it will be extended by National Grid as part of a wider upgrade to electrical infrastructure at Culham Campus. The proposal would provide Culham Campus with an enhanced connection to the grid that will give it greater power security, resilience and stability. It supports UKAEA’s ambition for the campus to continue to be a world leading fusion facility, promoting growth and employment in the region. The 500 MW of storage capacity is to be achieved using 296 shipping containers modified for batteries, 37 inverter houses, 7 control rooms, 4 shipping containers for storage and welfare facilities and a customer substation. Increasing BESS capacity close to National Grid’s strategic substations, such as Culham, is critical to the decarbonisation
of the UK’s electricity system. Both the UK’s target of achieving net zero by 2050 and the earlier target to decarbonise the power system by 2035 require a substantial growth in renewable energy generation, along with electricity storage to balance the intermittent generation from renewables. National Grid expects batteries to make up the largest share of storage power capacity by 2050 with battery use rising from current levels of 3GW to as much as 20GW by 2030 and 35GW by 2050.
www.modernpowersystems.com | May 2024 | 5
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