Emergency measures to prevent core meltdown in the crisis nuclear power plant Zaporizhia
Diesel generators are now cooling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant
The Zaporizhia NPP in the middle of the war zone has had to switch to emergency power from diesel generators. This is because the power supply required for cooling was interrupted due to shelling. Apparently the fuel is scarce. A meltdown warning is given.
Emergency power from diesel generators is currently cooling the fuel rods at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The operators are trying to avert a catastrophe. Without cooling, core meltdowns occur.
In the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, emergency power generators have been running since early Saturday to prevent a meltdown of the fuel rods. This was announced by the state-owned Ukrainian NPP operator Energoatom. Ukrainian personnel operate the facilities in Russian-occupied territory.
Even when the six reactors are shut down, they need constant power to keep the nuclear fuel inside cool and prevent catastrophe. This emergency power is now produced by means of diesel generators. But apparently the diesel is threatening to run out.
Energoatom boss Petro Kotin told the BBC that the diesel generators have a limited supply of fuel. “When the generators run out of fuel, they shut down and then there’s a disaster,” Kotin said. “The active core melts and radioactivity is released. At the moment we are working on the logistics to deliver more fuel for these generators.”
“Highly irresponsible”
The UN nuclear agency IAEA has two observers in the nuclear power plant and confirmed that the plant had switched to diesel generators. This was after a shelling on Saturday around 1 a.m. cut the 750-kilovolt main line that supplies Zaporizhia with external energy.
“Resuming the shelling that hit the power plant’s only external power source is highly irresponsible,” said IAEA Chairman Rafael Grossi (61) in a statement Explanation. Energoatom is currently negotiating with the Russian authorities about the power plant’s fuel supply.
Grossi was already in Kyiv on Thursday to negotiate the establishment of a restricted zone. His main goal is “to avoid a nuclear accident in the plant,” which he considers possible, emphasized Grossi. Russian President Vladimir Putin (69) ordered this week that Russia should also take over operational control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
Fukushima parallels
The failure of the cooling system led to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. First there was an earthquake, then a tsunami destroyed the diesel-powered emergency generators. Nuclear meltdowns led to widespread nuclear contamination and depopulation.
The decontamination of the area will take decades and, according to the power plant operator Tepco, will cost a three-digit billion amount.