Category: Nuclear Energy

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Drone strikes hit the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) today, in a serious incident that endangered nuclear safety and security, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

For the first time since November 2022, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was directly targeted in military action that also represents a clear violation of the five basic principles for protecting the facility established by Director General Grossi at the United Nations Security Council in May last year. 

“This is a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately,” Director General Grossi said.

At this point, there are no indications of damage to critical nuclear safety or security systems at the site. However, the military strikes were another stark reminder of persistent threats to the ZNPP and other nuclear facilities during the armed conflict, despite the IAEA’s efforts to reduce the risk of a severe accident that could harm people and the environment in Ukraine and beyond.

“As I have repeatedly stated – including at the Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors – no one can conceivably benefit or get any military or political advantage from attacks against nuclear facilities. Attacking a nuclear power plant is an absolute no go,” he said. “I firmly appeal to military decision makers to abstain from any action violating the basic principles that protect nuclear facilities.”

After receiving information from the ZNPP about the drone attacks, the IAEA experts stationed at the site went to three affected locations. They were able to confirm the physical impact of the drone detonations, including at one of the site’s six reactor buildings where surveillance and communication equipment appeared to have been targeted. While they were at the roof of the reactor, unit 6, Russian troops engaged what appeared to be an approaching drone. This was followed by an explosion near the reactor building.

The IAEA team reported that they observed remnants of drones at this and two other impact locations at the site. At one of them, outside a laboratory, they saw blood stains next to a damaged military logistics vehicle, indicating at least one casualty.

The experts reported hearing explosions and rifle fire on the site throughout the day. Additionally, the IAEA team heard several rounds of outgoing artillery fire from near the plant.

While the team so far has not observed any structural damage to systems, structures, and components important to nuclear safety or security of the plant, they reported observing minor superficial scorching to the top of the reactor dome roof of Unit 6 and scoring of a concrete slab supporting the primary make-up water storage tanks.

“Although the damage at unit 6 has not compromised nuclear safety, this was a serious incident that had the potential to undermine the integrity of the reactor’s containment system,” Director General Grossi said.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) lost the connection to its only remaining back-up power line today amid renewed indications of military activity in the area, in yet another incident highlighting persistent nuclear safety and security risks during the conflict, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.

The IAEA experts stationed at the ZNPP reported that the sole remaining 330 kilovolt (kV) line was disconnected at 10:06am local time, leaving the plant entirely dependent on its sole remaining 750 kV line for off-site power. Before the conflict, the ZNPP had four 750 kV and six 330 kV power lines available.

The cause of the latest outage was not immediately clear, but it followed reports of military activity in the region and beyond. This was also confirmed by the IAEA team on the ground who heard numerous rounds of outgoing artillery fire this morning, as well as on Wednesday, when the firing of rockets was heard by the team. 

“As has happened repeatedly during this devastating war, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has lost a key source of the electricity it needs to cool its reactors as well as for other essential nuclear safety and security functions. This morning’s developments once again underline the very real dangers facing this major facility,” Director General Grossi said.

Also before these latest events, the IAEA experts have continued to hear daily explosions over the past week, at various distances from the site.

Since August 2022, the ZNPP has suffered eight events with a complete loss of off-site power, most recently in December last year. The 330 kV line was also disconnected for three weeks earlier this year, but the main 750 kV line remained available at that time.

Separately today, Ukraine’s national regulator, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU), informed the IAEA that a research and development facility in the country’s north-east – used before the war to produce radioisotopes for medical and industrial applications – had once again lost off-site power due to shelling. The facility now relies on emergency diesel generators, as it did during a previous week-long outage, from 22-29 March 2024. The on-site radiation situation is within the normal limits, SNRIU said.

The subcritical Neutron Source installation, located in the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT), was transferred to a deep sub-critical state at the start of the conflict, and its radioactive inventory is low. In November 2022, an IAEA safeguards and nuclear security expert mission found that the facility had been heavily damaged by shelling, but without any indication of radiological release or diversion of declared nuclear material.

“As this facility has been shut down since the start of the armed conflict more than two years ago, we do not currently expect the situation to have any consequences for public safety. But it also underlines the potential risks to nuclear safety and nuclear security during the military conflict and we will continue to monitor the situation at the facility,” Director General Grossi said.

Earlier this week at the ZNPP, the IAEA team was informed that the plant was assessing the future operational status of its only heat-generating unit after the nearby town of Enerhodar – where most plant staff live – officially ended the winter heating season.

The ZNPP stopped producing electricity for the national grid in September 2022, but it has kept at least one of its six units in hot shutdown to provide district heating as well as process steam for liquid waste treatment at the site. After the plant earlier this year started operating four newly-installed diesel steam generators to handle such waste, reactor unit 4 has remained in hot shutdown primarily to help keep Enerhodar warm. The five other reactors are in cold shutdown.

This week, however, the IAEA experts stationed at the site were informed that on 1 April, Enerhodar decided to end its heating season for 2023-24 and shut down its own local heat generation, prompting the ZNPP to also re-consider the situation regarding unit 4.

“A decision to move unit 4 to cold shutdown would be more favourable for nuclear safety and security, but it should not detract from the fact that the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant remains highly precarious, as this morning’s power loss once again demonstrated,” Director General Grossi said.

The IAEA team this week continued to conduct walkdowns at the site, including to some of the reactor units as well as the ZNPP inlet and discharge channels, where they also observed the cooling towers and their pumping station.

At the waterworks facilities, the team was informed that the ZNPP cooling pond currently receives approximately 400 m³/h of water from the sprinkler ponds as well as from the discharge channel of the nearby Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant. The water supplied from the eleven underground wells is providing enough cooling water for the six units in shutdown, but still not enough to maintain the water inventory in the ZNPP cooling pond.

During a visit to the unit 4 reactor building the team observed the chemical analysis laboratory and the safety system rooms. No leaks or traces of boric acid were seen. But the experts noted what appeared to be some crystallised boric acid in one of the sump intakes during a visit to unit 1 sumps for the ECCS (Emergency Core Cooling System). Borated water is used in the primary coolant to help maintain nuclear safety functions. Although leaks may occur, prompt investigation, repair, and clean-up are crucial to prevent potential damage to any system important to nuclear safety.

During the walkdowns over the past week, the experts were not granted access to the cooling pond isolation gate, a location the IAEA last saw in November 2023, nor to the western part of the turbine hall of unit 6. As reported previously, the ZNPP has not provided timely and appropriate access for the IAEA experts to all areas that are important to nuclear safety and security.

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, despite multiple air raid alarms over the past week. Maintenance in the unit 2 turbine hall at the Khmelnytskyy NPP has been completed and the reactor has returned to nominal power. Unit 4 at the Rivne NPP remains in planned outage. The IAEA experts at the South Ukraine and Rivne NPPs rotated during this past week.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts completed a nuclear security mission at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station (KKNPS) in Japan today, which was carried out at the request of the country’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The nine-day mission, conducted from 25 March to 2 April 2024, aimed to assess the enhancement of the physical protection measures at the KKNPS, Japan’s largest nuclear facility with seven reactors, and to provide further advice as necessary to the facility’s operator.

A physical protection system comprises people, procedures and equipment to provide defence in depth to address threats and to protect against both unauthorized removal of nuclear material and sabotage of nuclear material or facilities.

The five-person team assessed and observed physical protection measures against the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material as amended, and relevant IAEA Nuclear Security Guidance documents. They visited the KKNPS in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and met with staff of the facility’s operator, TEPCO. The team included experts from Finland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, as well as one IAEA staff member.

The team observed the facility management’s commitment to improving nuclear security and identified continuous improvements in several areas of the KKNPS physical protection system since 2018, when the IAEA conducted an International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) Follow-up Mission in Japan, including a site visit at KKNPS. Most of the improvements have been completed, and some requiring significant resources and time to complete are either under implementation or planned to be implemented. The team provided TEPCO recommendations and suggestions for further improvements.

“Critical infrastructure, such as nuclear facilities, requires robust physical protection measures, as part of a national nuclear security regime supported by a legislative and regulatory framework and nuclear security culture,” said Elena Buglova, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Security. “The IAEA expert missions are intended to assist the requesting States in establishing and further strengthening their national nuclear security regimes, including the physical protection against theft, sabotage or unauthorized use of nuclear and other radioactive material.”

“The findings provided by the experts of the Expert Mission team are very important and will be used further to enhance nuclear security of our plant in line with the IAEA international standards. Based on the advice given by the IAEA experts, TEPCO is committed to continuously improve our security measures by establishing a strong security culture to sustain this current security enhancement effort and prevent it from declining again in the future. Also, we will further strengthen the prevention measures against internal threat and continue our improvement aiming towards a better physical protection system, including intrusion detection. This Expert Mission has also provided us a great opportunity to learn about international good practices. We will continue to improve towards a plant, which our local region can trust and feel safe about,” said KKNPS Superintendent Takeyuki Inagaki of TEPCO.

The team presented its draft report of findings to TEPCO. The final report will be ready in the next few weeks. 

Background

The KKNPS houses seven boiling water reactors with a total gross electrical capacity of 8212 MW(e). It is located between Kashiwazaki City and Kariwa Village on the coast of the Sea of Japan of the Niigata Prefecture. Since 2012, the plant has been offline, after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident led to the shutdown of all nuclear plants in Japan.

In 2014, Japan accepted the 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM). The CPPNM establishes legal obligations for Parties regarding the physical protection of nuclear material used for peaceful purposes. The Amendment strengthens the original CPPNM by establishing States’ obligations to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage and transport.

The responsibility for nuclear security within a State rests entirely with the State. The IAEA provides support on nuclear security, upon request from Member States, by offering peer review missions and advisory services, guidance documents, e-learning courses, training courses and workshops. The IAEA conducted an IPPAS mission in Japan in 2015 and a follow-up IPPAS mission in 2018.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The conflict is continuing to endanger nuclear safety and security in Ukraine, with military activity taking place near the country’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in the south, air raid alarms sounding at several sites, and shelling knocking out off-site power at a research facility in the north-east, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.

“For more than two years now, nuclear safety and security in Ukraine has been in constant jeopardy. We remain determined to do everything we can to help minimize the risk of a nuclear accident that could harm people and the environment, not only in Ukraine,” Director General Grossi said.

“So far, we have managed to stabilise the situation but, as we have seen again this past week, nuclear safety and security in Ukraine remains extremely vulnerable. We cannot afford to let our guard down at any time,” he said.

At the ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (NPP), the IAEA experts stationed at the site have continued to hear explosions every day over the past week, at different distances from the plant. Several times, the sounds appeared to come from near the site, presumably from outgoing artillery fire, the experts said. Nearby small arms fire was heard during the night of 22 March, and again yesterday. In addition, an air raid alarm went off at the site yesterday, delaying the IAEA team’s planned visit to the ZNPP’s dry spent fuel facility until later in the day.

Despite such challenges, the IAEA team has continued to conduct regular walkdowns across the site over the past week, including a visit to the reactor building of unit 5 to observe the water level in the spent fuel pool, the operation of spent fuel cooling pumps, two steam generators and the safety systems rooms. No leaks of fluid or traces of boric acid were observed. The team also saw operating pumps and other equipment in the turbine hall of unit 4, observed the testing of an emergency diesel generator in the same unit, and visited electrical rooms of the safety systems in units 4 and 5.

Throughout the walkdowns conducted over the past week, the IAEA team did not observe any concerns related to nuclear safety. However, the ZNPP has still not provided timely and appropriate access for the IAEA experts to all areas that are important to nuclear safety and security, including some parts of the turbine halls, the isolation gate of the ZNPP cooling pond and the 330 kV open switchyard at the nearby Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant. The IAEA is aware of social media reports and images related to the presence of troops and vehicles inside one of the turbine halls at the ZNPP. The presence of such vehicles in ZNPP turbine halls has been reported in previous updates by the Director General.

The maintenance activities on parts of the safety system of unit 1 have not yet resumed after the ZNPP decided to postpone them again last week. However, other scheduled maintenance work is being performed elsewhere at the ZNPP.

The IAEA experts were informed that the ZNPP has begun draining one of the sprinkler ponds of unit 5 in order to clean it, which is expected to take around three weeks, after which a sprinkler pond of unit 6 will also be cleaned. The two units are among the five at the ZNPP which are in cold shutdown, while reactor unit 4 is in hot shutdown to generate steam for heating.  

In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, on 22 March, a research and development facility used, up until the start of the war, to produce radioisotopes for medical and industrial applications lost its external power due to shelling, according to the Ukrainian nuclear regulator. The facility now relies on emergency diesel generators. Additionally, the IAEA was informed that all on-site radiation levels remain normal.

The subcritical Neutron Source installation, located in the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT), was transferred to a deep sub-critical state at the start of the conflict, and its radioactive inventory is low. In November 2022, an IAEA safeguards and nuclear security expert mission found that the facility had been heavily damaged by shelling, but without any indication of radiological release or diversion of declared nuclear material.

“Due to the nature of this facility, which has been shutdown since the start of the armed conflict, we do not currently anticipate a situation that could have any implications to public safety. But, clearly, leaving a nuclear installation without off-site power is not normal and once again demonstrates the risks from this war to nuclear safety. We will continue to monitor the situation at the facility,” Director General Grossi said.

The IAEA experts at the Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs as well as at the Chornobyl site have reported that nuclear safety and security continues to be maintained, despite multiple air raid alarms over the past week. Maintenance in the turbine hall of unit 2 at the Khmelnytskyy NPP is progressing well, and unit 4 at the Rivne NPP is in planned outage. The IAEA experts at the Chornobyl site were rotated this week.

The IAEA continued to deliver equipment needed to maintain nuclear safety and security in Ukraine. This week, the Rivne NPP received a portable X-ray device for non-destructive testing at the site that was procured with funding from the United Kingdom. It was the 42nd delivery of equipment to Ukraine since the start of the conflict, with such assistance now totalling more than 9 million euro.