Category: Nuclear Energy

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) travels to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) next week to discuss and assess important issues and recent developments related to the still fragile nuclear safety and security situation at the site, including the reduced number of staff working at this major facility.

It will be the fourth time Director General Grossi crosses the frontline of the war to visit the ZNPP, whose six reactors have all been in shutdown for nearly eighteen months and produce no electricity but still hold large amounts of nuclear fuel that must be kept safe, including adequately cooled, and secure.

Before heading to the plant in the country’s south-east, he will on Tuesday hold high-level talks in the capital Kyiv.

As part of the IAEA’s continuous efforts to help prevent a nuclear accident, the Director General is expected to address and seek to make progress on several current nuclear safety and security challenges at the ZNPP, including potential risks related to the plant’s equipment maintenance activities.

The Director General will also raise the crucial issue of staffing at the ZNPP and request further information about a new announcement by the plant that from today no workers employed by Ukraine’s national operator Energoatom will be allowed at the site. The staff working at the ZNPP now consists of former Energoatom employees who have adopted Russian citizenship and signed employment contracts with the Russian operating entity, as well as staff who have been sent to the ZNPP from the Russian Federation. The ZNPP told the IAEA team at the site today that there are enough certified personnel at the plant and all positions are fully filled.

“I will discuss this latest development when I visit the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant next week. It is of crucial importance that the plant has the qualified and skilled staff that it needs for nuclear safety and security. The number of staff has already been reduced significantly since the war began almost two years ago,” Director General Grossi said.

This week, prior to today’s announcement, the IAEA experts continued to ask the ZNPP to provide more detailed information to fully understand and assess the situation in this regard, in particular about staff operating the main control rooms and those responsible for the maintenance of critical safety infrastructure and processes.

The ZNPP stated to the IAEA experts earlier this week that nominal staffing levels for nuclear power plants operated by Rosatom are significantly lower than the corresponding staffing levels of Ukraine. The IAEA experts were informed that there currently are 4500 staff employed by the Russian operating entity at the ZNPP and 940 applications under consideration. Prior to the start of the armed conflict there were approximately 11500 staff working at the ZNPP.

At the United Nations Security Council on 25 January, Director General Grossi said the plant has been “operating on significantly reduced staff, who are under unprecedented psychological pressure – which despite the reactors being shutdown is not sustainable”.

At the ZNPP, the Director General will also stress the importance of timely access for the IAEA to all parts of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (NPP) relevant to nuclear safety and security. Access is needed for the IAEA teams based at the ZNPP to fully assess the seven pillars of nuclear safety and security at the ZNPP and also to monitor adherence to the five concrete principles for the protection of the plant.

Accompanying the Director General, a new group of IAEA experts will next week replace the current Agency team at the site. It will be the 16th team of the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) since it was established on 1 September 2022.  

“The permanent presence of IAEA experts has been instrumental in helping to stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to some extent. But – as I told the United Nations Security Council last week – the world cannot afford to be complacent,” Director General Grossi said.

“I decided to travel to the site again to underline the potential risks the plant is continuing to face on a daily basis and to reiterate and reinforce the IAEA’s commitment to do everything in our power to help ensure nuclear safety and security at this site, as well as at Ukraine’s other nuclear facilities,” he said.

At the ZNPP, the current IAEA team of experts have conducted walkdowns across the site this week, visiting the reactor hall of unit 1 and its safety system rooms, in some of which they observed the presence of boric acid deposits. The IAEA experts have previously seen deposits of boric acid in units 3 and 6. Borated water is used in the primary coolant to help maintain nuclear safety functions.

This week, ISAMZ also visited the two fresh fuel storage facilities, the dry spent fuel storage facility and water sprinkler ponds. The team performed backpack radiation monitoring measurements on site, confirming that radiation levels were normal.

The 11 wells that were built near the sprinkler ponds following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam last June are providing cooling water for the six shutdown reactors and spent nuclear fuel.

Five of the ZNPP’s six reactors remain in cold shutdown, while unit 4 is in hot shutdown to produce steam and heat, including for the nearby town of Enerhodar, where most plant staff live.

On Monday, the team observed part of the commissioning work on the new diesel steam generators (DSG), and was today informed by the plant that they had started operating. The IAEA has been informed that the steam generated by the new equipment will be used to process liquid waste. The ZNPP has not yet confirmed whether the steam generated by this new equipment will enable it to place all reactor units in cold shutdown.

Due to recent milder temperatures, the site has been able to reduce the number of mobile diesel boilers operating to four, out of the nine such units. These boilers provide heating to the plant as well as to Enerhodar.

The team was informed that maintenance had been completed on the back-up power transformer, following a failure earlier this month, and has resumed operation. The ZNPP said it will soon inform the IAEA team about the cause of the failure.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the IAEA experts present at the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs as well as at the Chornobyl site have reported that nuclear safety and security is being maintained despite the challenging war-time circumstances, including frequent air raid alarms at some of the facilities. The IAEA teams at the three operating NPPs rotated during the past week.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Task Force conducting a safety review of Japan’s discharge of treated water into the sea at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) today issued its first full report since the water discharge began last year. In its observations, the Task Force found the discharge to be consistent with international safety standards and reaffirmed the conclusions from the Agency’s comprehensive safety report issued on 4 July last year.

During its mission from 24 to 27 October 2023, the Task Force reviewed the facilities and equipment installed at FDNPS to discharge the ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) treated water. It also met with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the plant, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA).

The IAEA’s comprehensive report – issued before the discharge began – found Japan’s plan for handling the treated water to be consistent with international safety standards and that the discharge as planned would have a negligible radiological impact to people and the environment. Japan started to discharge the water on 24 August 2023 and has so far completed the release of three batches, a total of 23 400 cubic metres of water.

The Task Force – made up of IAEA and independent experts from 11 different countries – was appointed by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in 2021 to review the safety of Japan’s plan for the water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi NPS against international safety standards. The standards constitute the worldwide reference for protecting the public and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation.

Based on their assessments made during the October mission, the Task Force also concluded the following:

• A robust regulatory infrastructure is in place in Japan to provide operational safety oversight of the discharge of ALPS treated water, and the Task Force was able to witness first-hand the onsite presence of the NRA and its activities in this regard.
• Based on its observations at the FDNPS, the Task Force confirmed that the equipment and facilities are installed and operated in a manner that is consistent with Japan’s plan for the release of the water and the relevant international safety standards.
• The Task Force reiterated the finding from the IAEA’s comprehensive report that optimization of protection – that is the process to determine the level of protection and safety for individuals – needs to be considered as part of the overall decommissioning of the FDNPS site. However, the Task Force fully recognized that the discharges are in the early stages and that further time and operational experience are required before progress can be made on this issue.

As part of its ongoing multiyear safety review, the IAEA will continue to conduct Task Force review missions. The Agency also maintains its continuous presence at the IAEA Fukushima Daiichi NPS Office to monitor and assess the ongoing water discharge.

Reports on ongoing corroboration of data

Separately, the IAEA also issued two reports done as part of its safety review of the water discharge detailing the latest findings of its ongoing corroboration of the measurement data underpinning Japan’s plan for the discharge of the ALPS treated water.

The IAEA is conducting a series of interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) to corroborate the source and environmental monitoring conducted by TEPCO and other relevant Japanese authorities for the ALPS treated water discharge. Consistent with relevant IAEA international safety standards, TEPCO is required to monitor the characteristics and activity of the treated water and to establish and implement monitoring programmes in order to accurately evaluate public exposure due to the discharge and to comply with its national regulatory authorization.

The first report describes an ILC that assessed TEPCO’s capabilities for accurate and precise measurements of the radionuclides present in the treated water stored on site. Water samples were taken in October 2022 from two tanks at FDNPS. In the second report, the IAEA details an intercomparison of radionuclides analyses in samples of seawater, sediment, fish and seaweed taken in November 2022 from offshore locations and a fish market close to FDNPS. Carried out prior to the start of the water discharge, this exercise corroborates monitoring intended to establish a baseline for activity concentrations in the marine environment against which any future impact can be measured.

The ILCs involved laboratories from the IAEA Nuclear Sciences and Applications Department, an external laboratory in the Republic of Korea and laboratories in Japan separately analysing samples, followed by a quantitative comparison of the results by the IAEA. The results of both ILCs provide confidence in Japan’s capability for undertaking accurate and precise measurements related to the discharge of ALPS treated water.

Additional ILCs will be conducted in the future for ALPS treated water, as well as environmental samples, and occupational radiation protection.

Additional information such as frequently asked questions and a timeline of activities can be found on the IAEA’s dedicated Fukushima Daiichi ALPS Treated Water Discharge webpage.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission said the United Kingdom has a strong commitment to nuclear and radiation safety and has made progress to reinforce its regulatory functions. The team also identified areas for further enhancements, including the need to effectively recruit and retain regulatory specialists and inspectors.

The Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) follow-up mission was conducted at the request of the UK Government and took place at the headquarters of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), in Bootle, near the city of Liverpool. Its purpose was to evaluate the implementation of 24 recommendations and 19 suggestions provided during the initial IRRS mission in 2019.

IRRS missions are designed to strengthen the effectiveness of the national nuclear and radiation safety regulatory infrastructure, based on IAEA safety standards and international good practices, while recognizing the responsibility of each country to ensure nuclear and radiation safety.

The IRRS team – comprised of seven senior regulatory experts from seven IAEA Member States, three IAEA staff members, and one observer from Canada – held interviews with 13 regulatory authorities included within the scope of the review.

In the UK, nuclear and radiation technologies are used in various sectors for energy production, healthcare, industry and research. The country’s nine nuclear power reactors provide just over 14 per cent of the country’s electricity. The UK Government recently announced its plans to quadruple UK nuclear power by 2050.

In healthcare, nuclear and radiation technologies are employed for medical imaging, cancer treatment and diagnostic procedures, enhancing patient care and disease detection. Furthermore, nuclear technologies play a crucial role in industrial applications, such as non-destructive testing and sterilization processes. Universities and research institutions in the UK use accelerators, reactors and other facilities for nuclear physics, materials science and various scientific experiments.

The IRRS team said that since 2019, the UK regulatory bodies involved in the review have shown a strong professionalism and commitment in carrying out their mandate to nuclear and radiation safety in the UK. Of the 24 recommendations and 19 suggestions made in 2019, 19 recommendations and ten suggestions have been successfully addressed and closed. Notable achievements included:

• The establishment of the Radiological Safety Group, an overarching coordination group, which consists of senior officials from all government departments and regulatory bodies having responsibilities for radiological safety, and the associated Radiological Safety Working Group.
• A new requirement under which an applicant must submit a safety assessment to the regulator before obtaining an authorization to operate a facility or conduct an activity with radiation sources.
• The Environment Agency introduced a new nuclear Radioactive Substances Regulation business planning process to ensure a graded approach to safety inspections.
• The UK developed a new framework for facilitating national-level contribution and communication of IAEA safety standards updates.

“This IRRS follow-up mission demonstrated that the UK has made continuous improvements since the IRRS 2019 mission to the highest standards of nuclear and radiation safety,” said Ramzi Jammal, acting Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and the Team Leader for the IRRS follow-up mission. “The findings of the mission will contribute to the ongoing efforts to ensure a robust regulatory framework for the benefit of the public and the environment.”

Four good performances were recognized by the team in its reports. These included:

• The Openness and Transparency Policy of ONR.
• The decision to commission an independent and transparent assessment of ONR’s culture and to publish the assessment report.
• The establishment of a nuclear site resource prioritization tool by the Environment Agency (EA).
• The UK regulatory framework Draft Standards and Guidance Status Spreadsheet, which facilitates the national coordination in relation to the IAEA safety standards updates.

“We thank the IRRS mission team members for productive discussions on the UK’s radiological safety framework,” said a spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. “We are committed to maintaining the highest nuclear safety standards and are grateful for the hard work of our government departments and regulatory bodies across the four nations of the UK in helping to make the mission a success. It comes at an important moment for British nuclear as the Government recently set out plans for a revival to deliver up to 24 GW by 2050. This will require a robust regulatory framework and significant work has already been done by UK regulators to develop their approach and work more closely with international partners.”

In its report, the team made six new findings consisting of four recommendations and two suggestions in relation to the topics covered during the IRRS initial mission. In particular, the team noted that the inability to recruit and retain specialists and inspectors has had an impact on the regulatory processes of some bodies and recommended a pay reform where required in order to ensure the statutory remit is delivered.

At the closing session, Anna Hajduk Bradford, Director of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Installation Safety, emphasized the collaborative spirit of the mission. “This comprehensive review underscores the commitment of the UK to enhancing its nuclear and radiation safety measures,” she said. “I commend the UK for requesting the mission.”

The final mission report will be provided to the Government in about three months.

IAEA Safety Standards

The IAEA Safety Standards provide a robust framework of fundamental principles, requirements and guidance to ensure safety. They reflect an international consensus and serve as a global reference for protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The nuclear safety and security situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains extremely fragile with “very real” potential dangers of a major accident, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told the United Nations Security Council ahead of his fourth mission to the site early next month.

Addressing the Security Council on Thursday for the sixth time since the war began almost two years ago, he warned against complacency and made clear the IAEA would stay focused on helping to prevent a potentially catastrophic nuclear accident, at the ZNPP or any of the country’s other nuclear facilities.

“A nuclear accident has not yet happened. This is true. But complacency could still lead us to tragedy. That should not happen. We must do everything in our power to minimize the risk that it does,” he said.

Briefing the 15-member Security Council on developments since the establishment last May of the five concrete principles for the protection of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, he emphasised the importance of his experts stationed at the site obtaining the access they need to monitor adherence to these principles.

Director General Grossi announced he would cross the frontline to travel to the ZNPP “within the next two weeks”, enabling him to assess the situation there first-hand some eight months after his previous mission to the plant.

The last time he went to the site in southern Ukraine was in June 2023, soon after the destruction of the downstream Kakhovka dam, which supplied water for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions at the ZNPP.

In his address to the Security Council at U.N. Headquarters in New York, the Director General underlined potential threats to nuclear safety and security at the site, as well as other challenges.

“Although the plant has not been shelled for a considerable time, significant military activities continue in the region and sometimes in the vicinity of the facility, with our staff reporting rockets flying overhead close to the plant, thereby putting at risk the physical integrity of the plant,” he said.

In addition, the plant’s off-site power supplies remain “highly precarious”, as it is currently relying on just two external power lines, compared with 10 before the conflict.

“There have now been eight occasions when the site lost all off-site power and had to rely on emergency diesel generators, the last line of defence against a nuclear accident, to provide essential cooling of the reactor and spent fuel,” Director General Grossi said.

He also highlighted challenges related to the significantly reduced number of staff – who are “under unprecedented psychological pressure” – as well as the equipment maintenance situation.

“The reduced number of qualified and trained operating personnel and the challenging supply chain has had a negative impact on the maintenance of equipment which is essential for maintaining the safety of the plant,” he said. 

The Director General stressed that the IAEA experts should have sufficient access to monitor the situation regarding the seven pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict, as well as the more recent five protection principles for the ZNPP.

“There are occasions when the team has not had timely access to some areas of the plant – sometimes for many months,” he said.

There “have been no indications that the five concrete principles are not being observed,” he said, but added: “Nevertheless, in line with the evolving situation, the Agency needs to have timely access to all areas of the ZNPP of significance for nuclear safety and security, to monitor that all five concrete principles are being observed at all times.”

On the ground at the ZNPP this week, the IAEA experts at the plant were informed that one of the plant’s back-up power electrical transformers that failed last week was under maintenance and that there were no indications of structural damage.

The failure showed the continuing vulnerability in the availability of external power, which the plant needs to cool its six reactors and for other essential nuclear safety and security functions.

The ZNPP said it had investigated and identified the preliminary cause of the failure, and the IAEA experts are expecting to be informed of the outcome in the near future.

Also this week, the IAEA experts performed a walkdown of the cooling pond area and met with plant staff handling the site’s water management to discuss how the cold winter weather may affect the cooling pond, which supplies water for some of the site’s needs not related to safety, and how the ZNPP deals with any impact of ice.

Prior to the conflict, the water in the cooling pond was kept warm due to the operation of the reactor units. With all six units now in extended shutdown, the IAEA team observed small amounts of ice in a few locations of the cooling pond.

But earlier this winter, when it was colder, most of the cooling pond surface was covered by a two-centimetre layer of ice, the site informed the IAEA team.

Despite the winter cold, the team was also informed that there are a lot of fish in the cooling pond. Several non-tropical fish species have survived the cold temperatures and continue to clean the cooling pond water.

The height of the cooling pond currently is at 15.61 metres, around one metre below the level before the Kakhovka dam was destroyed with little change in the height over recent months.

The cooling water for the six shutdown reactors continues to be supplied by the 11 groundwater wells near the sprinkler ponds.

The IAEA experts were not permitted to visit the ZNPP cooling pond isolation gate during the walkdown.

During other walkdowns in the past week, the IAEA experts visited the reactor hall of unit 3, as well as the safety systems rooms of units 3 and 5. A single small boric acid deposit was observed in one of the safety systems rooms of unit 3.

Regarding the boric acid deposits in unit 6, the Russian Federation regulatory body issued a “special order” on 20 January for the repair of the leak in the unit’s storage tank. The ZNPP informed the IAEA experts of its intention to fix the microcracks in the tank, which will require its draining. Borated water is used in the primary coolant to help maintain nuclear safety functions.

The IAEA team also conducted a walkdown of the 750 kilovolt (kV) open switchyard where it confirmed that only one such power line was connected to the electricity grid – down from four before the conflict. The switchyard components that were damaged in 2022 had been dismantled, but spare parts were available.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the IAEA experts present at the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) as well as at the Chornobyl site have reported that nuclear safety and security is being maintained despite the challenging war-time circumstances, including the frequent sound of air raid alarms at some of the facilities. On 23 January, a new team of experts arrived at the Chornobyl site, replacing their colleagues there.

In his address to the Security Council, Director General Grossi noted that these NPPs were operating, with most of their reactor units at full capacity.

“Although our teams continue to report that nuclear safety and security is maintained, they are also confirming the looming threat of military conflict and at some plants having to take shelter on several occasions. I wish to remind the Council that the availability of off-site power is essential to ensure their safe operation,” he said.