nuclear-news

The situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station

information about Zaporizhzhia NPP

https://snriu.gov.ua/en/news/updated-information-about-zaporizhzhia-npp-1500 04 March 22

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporizhzhia NPP, was captured by the military troops of the Russian Federation after heavy fighting in the streets of Energodar.

As a result of artillery shelling of the ZNPP industrial site:

– the reactor compartment building of the ZNPP unit 1 was damaged;

– 2 artillery shells hit the area of the dry type spent nuclear fuel storage facility.

The degree of damage to the structures and systems of these nuclear installations and their impact on safety requires additional assessments based on the results of the comprehensive inspections by the special services of the Operating Organization.

The fire, which broke out at night due to the enemy shelling of the ZNPP industrial site, severely damaged the training center building located in the immediate vicinity of the ZNPP industrial site.

Operational personnel, who were on shift at the time of the Russian occupation of the ZNPP site, were forced to continue working at their workplaces for more than 24 hours. There are no killed or injured ones among the ZNPP personnel. Some of the personnel received medical care due to stress.

To date, the rotation of operational personnel has been carried out, it is tentatively planned that the new shift will work until 23:00. Operational personnel monitor the state of power units and ensure their operation. At the same time, the personnel are working under pressure exercised by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, which occupied the ZNPP.

State of the power units:

• Unit 1 is in outage. 
• Unit 2 is in operation to ensure the in-house needs.
• Unit 3 has been disconnected from the grid, the core cooldown operations are underway to transfer the nuclear installation into a cold shutdown state.
• Unit 4 is in operation, the electric power was increased up to 825 MW, the unit loading continues.
• Units 5, 6 are being cooled down.

Changes in the radiation situation in Zaporizhzhia region have not been registered, gamma radiation background is within the standard limits.

March 7, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, Ukraine