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Chornobyl link restored, but IAEA demands access to Zaporizhzhya
Ukraine Nuclear power
The International Atomic Energy Agency issued Update 80 about the Ukraine situation on 7 June. Director general Dr Rafael Rossi was able to report that an information link to Chornobyl that was cut on 24 February at the start of the invasion of Ukraine has started transmitting data again. IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre has begun receiving radiation measurements from the Exclusion Zone set up after the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, marking the success of efforts to restore the automated collection of such data and reconnect the local monitoring stations with the IAEA’s International Radiation Monitoring Information system, IRIMS. Russian forces left the Chornobyl site on 31 March after holding it for five weeks. Most of the 39 detectors sending data from the Exclusion Zone – a radius of 15 km around the NPP – are now visible on the IRMIS map. The measurements received so far indicate radiation levels in line with those measured before the conflict.
“The resumption of radiation data
transmission from the Exclusion Zone is a very positive step forward for nuclear safety and security in Ukraine. It ends a long period of virtual information blackout that created much uncertainty about the radiation situation in the area, especially when it was under Russian occupation,” said Dr Rossi.
Ukraine had been asked about the spare parts situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP and reported that “supply chains are disrupted or lost, and stocks of consumables and spare parts are reduced in the repair and maintenance processes”. However “a reserve of consumables and spare parts was created at ZNPP to maintain nuclear safety” according to the plant’s operator. Regarding the country’s operational reactors, Ukraine told the IAEA on 7 June that eight reactors are currently connected to the grid, including two at ZNPP, three at the Rivne, two at South Ukraine, and one at the Khmelnytskyy NPP. The seven other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance or held in reserve. Ukraine has reported that safety systems
remain operational at the four NPPs, and they continue to have off-site power available. With respect to safeguards, the IAEA is continuing attempts, with the assistance of the operator, to re-establish the transmission of remote safeguards data to IAEA headquarters from the ZNPP that stopped on 30 May. ● IAEA director general Dr Rafael Mariano Rossi June reiterated on 9 June the urgent need for an expert mission, led by the agency, to Zaporizhzhya NPP.
“The current situation is untenable. Every day it continues; every day that vital maintenance work is delayed; every day that supply chain interruptions cause a break in the delivery of vital equipment; every day the decision-making ability of Ukrainian staff is compromised; every day the independent work and assessments of Ukraine’s regulator are undermined; the risk of an accident or a security breach increases,” he said. Dr Rossi said that he is actively working to organise an IAEA-led international mission to Zaporizhzhya to carry out essential nuclear safety, security and safeguards work at the site.
German government increases coal reserves Germany Coal power
To counteract future gas supply shortages, the German cabinet has decided on new regulations for the provision of backup power stations that will minimise the use of natural gas in power generation, reports news agency Reuters. In case of an emergency, additional back-up plants can be brought into operation at short notice. For this purpose, already mothballed coal plants will be upgraded. 2.6 GW of coal capacity that was scheduled to be shut down will be transferred into the reserve, which will amount to 9 GW in total. The government further aims to minimise gas firing in electricity production to ensure that it is
only used in industry and for heating in times of shortages. The regulation will apply until the end of March 2024, the point, the government estimates, at which the country will be almost fully independent of Russian gas imports. In 2021 Germany used 12% of the natural gas supplied for electricity production. Its current coal phase-out plan stipulates that the last plant is shuttered no later than 2038, but the government has already undertaken to strive for an end to coal-fired power production by 2030. Germany has reduced its dependency on Russian gas from around 55 % to around 35% between February and April 2022. ● Meanwhile Germany, which will host the G7
conference on 26-28 June, is wrestling with the problem of how it can push the climate agenda as the war in Ukraine dominates debate and leads to changes in fossil fuel consumption. The war is sure to leave its mark on the summit but chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that it must not lead the group of large economies to neglect future crises, such as climate change. Germany wants to push a “climate club” of ambitious countries as well as partnerships to support emerging and developing nations in their transition away from fossil fuels. However, the war could hamper efforts to exit fossil fuels as many countries race to wean themselves off Russian oil, coal and gas.
Magnesium – a sustainable lithium alternative?
Scotland Energy storage The potential for magnesium to offer a sustainable and affordable alternative to lithium in batteries is being explored in research led at the University of Strathclyde. The study, funded by the Faraday Institution, aims to develop suitable electrolytes for use in rechargeable, high energy density batteries. They will be capable of supporting efficient and repeatable transfer of magnesium between the batteries’ electrodes and will have high stability, to withstand the
4 | June 2022 |
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operating conditions of the battery. The electrolytes will be tested for electrochemical performance against existing cathode materials and analysed for their performance and stability. The one-year study has received seed funding of £115 000 from the Institution. It also involves the National Physical Laboratory, in which Strathclyde is a strategic partner, and Sheffield University. Dr Stuart Robertson, a senior lecturer in Strathclyde’s Department of Pure and Applied
Chemistry, is leading the research. He said: “Lithium is used extensively in batteries but it is not in great natural abundance and tends not to be recycled from spent batteries. Batteries in electric vehicles also need to be [very large, and] magnesium offers a natural alternative because it is much more abundant, is easier to obtain, and has competitive performance levels.” “We have been encouraged by the performance of magnesium in experiments we have carried out so far.”
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