Vienna, 8 October 2022 (TDI): Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declared that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) needs to be quickly secured.
This was communicated after the plant lost all external power due to shelling. According to Director-General Grossi, the ZNPP’s link to the 750-kilovolt power line was severed at around one in the morning local time today.
He cited reports from the team of IAEA experts on-site at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and official information from Ukraine.
Sixteen of the plant’s reactors were powered by sixteen diesel generators that kicked on automatically. Ten of the generators were turned off once the situation had stabilized, leaving only six to supply the reactors with the necessary electricity.
Director-General Grossi said, “The resumption of shelling, hitting the plant’s sole source of external power, is tremendously irresponsible. The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant must be protected.
I will soon travel to the Russian Federation and then return to Ukraine, to agree on a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant. This is an absolute and urgent imperative”.
IAEA specialists were advised by senior Ukrainian operating employees at the site that all of the plant’s safety systems are still receiving power and are functioning normally.
The six reactors still need the power to perform essential nuclear safety and security tasks even when they are in cool shutdown.
Each of the diesel generators at the plant has enough fuel to run for at least ten days. Engineers from ZNPP have started to fix the damaged 750 kV power line.
An intergovernmental body called the International Atomic Energy Agency works to encourage the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Along with this, to prevent its use for any military objectives, including the development of nuclear weapons.
Moreover, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) works to advance the safe, secure, and pacifist use of nuclear technologies.
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