Category: Press Release

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) first independent sampling and analysis of seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) since discharges of ALPS treated water started on 24 August confirms that the tritium levels are below Japan’s operational limit.

Agency staff present at the IAEA’s Office at the site sampled seawater from several locations within three kilometres from the site, at sea and from the coast.

The Agency’s independent sampling and measurement of the seawater from the coast shows consistency with the values reported by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) – operator of the FDNPS – as well as the Ministry of Environment of Japan. TEPCO reports daily public results on its website showing that the tritium activity concentration in the sea falls below its operational limit, that is, the limit set for operation of the ALPS discharge process that must not be exceeded. The Agency is continuing its analysis of all the seawater samples.

The IAEA’s safety review of Japan’s plan to release the treated water into the sea, carried out before the discharge started, concluded that Japan’s approach and activities to discharge ALPS-treated water are consistent with relevant international safety standards. The report noted that the controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water into the sea, as currently planned and assessed by TEPCO, would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.

The IAEA has been collecting marine samples in the waters off Fukushima over the past decade, following a request by the Japanese Government to assist it in ensuring that its sea area monitoring – conducted since the accident in 2011 – maintains a high quality, and is credible and transparent. The project is a follow-up activity to recommendations made on marine monitoring in a report by the IAEA in 2013 related to the decommissioning of the FDNPS plant.

IAEA staff sampling seawater within three kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station as part of the Agency’s safety review of the ALPS treated water discharge (Photo: TEPCO)

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts based at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) have reported hearing numerous explosions over the past week, in a possible sign of increased military activity in the region that could also pose a potential threat to nuclear safety and security at the site, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.

Just over a year after the IAEA established a permanent presence at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (NPP) to help prevent an accident there during the conflict in Ukraine, the overall situation at the facility remains highly precarious, Director General Grossi said.

Starting last Saturday, the IAEA team heard around two dozen explosions over three days, followed by several more in the last few days.  There was no damage to the plant itself.

“The reports I receive from our experts indicate that the explosions occurred some distance away from the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Nevertheless, I remain deeply concerned about the possible dangers facing the plant at this time of heightened military tension in the region,” Director General Grossi said, again stressing the importance of all parties adhering to the five concrete principles for the protection of the ZNPP.

“Whatever happens in a conflict zone wherever it may be, everybody would stand to lose from a nuclear accident, and I urge that all necessary precautions must be taken to avoid it happening,” he said.

Separately, the ZNPP informed the IAEA team that more drone strikes had taken place in the nearby city of Enerhodar – where many plant staff live with their families – in the morning of 7 September. No casualties were reported. In addition, the IAEA team was informed that the ZNPP had decided to temporarily reduce the number of personnel on the site to minimum levels over the next few days due to concerns of a higher risk of military activities in the area.

At the plant, the IAEA experts observed the continued presence of mines between the perimeter fences, but they did not see any additional ones during their walkdown activities across the site. However, they have still not been granted access to the rooftops of reactor units 1, 2, 5 and 6. The IAEA team has also been requesting a walkdown of all six turbine halls, one after the other, to be able to fully assess, at one time, whether there may be any items present that may be in contravention of the five principles. At present, this request has not been granted.

“To monitor compliance with the five principles, we must be able to have full access,” Director General Grossi said.

Three months after the downstream Kakhovka dam was destroyed – causing the depletion of the huge reservoir that the ZNPP had been relying on to cool its reactors and spent fuel – the plant continues work on expanding access to other sources of water, for example through the drilling of groundwater wells. So far, seven such wells of a planned total of 10-12 have been completed.

In recent days, the IAEA team observed – on two separate occasions – the operation of these wells supplying the sprinkler ponds, which are located next to the six reactors and used for the plant’s cooling functions.

The ZNPP has informed the IAEA team that the seven wells currently operating are accounting for just over half of the approximately 250 cubic metres of water per hour that are required to maintain the cooling water in the sprinkler ponds. This assumes all units remain in a shutdown state. The remaining volume of cooling water is currently pumped from the site’s drainage system. As a result of the new wells, the ZNPP also informed the IAEA that the height of the groundwater had only declined by a very minor level.

The IAEA team reported that the ZNPP is performing maintenance on different components and safety systems at the facility, whose six reactors remain shut down, one in hot shutdown and the others in cold shutdown.

On 4 September, a water leak was detected in a recirculation valve of the essential service water system in reactor unit 5. To repair this valve, the site had to place one safety train of unit 5 and one of unit 6 offline. After the valve was repaired, the safety train of unit 6 was returned to stand-by mode, while that of unit 5 was kept offline for maintenance work. Each reactor at the ZNPP has three separate and independent redundant systems (also called “safety trains”) that together comprise the units’ safety systems, which are normally in stand-by mode ready to activate if needed to maintain the reactor unit’s safety. One safety train alone is capable of maintaining the reactor unit’s safety.

Maintenance activities of the safety systems of unit 4 are also taking place, including of its transformer, heat exchangers and emergency diesel generators. Once they are completed, the site will conduct the final test of the steam generator that was repaired after a water leak was detected in this unit last month.

Over the past week, the IAEA team also conducted other walkdown activities within the site perimeter, including at the main control room, emergency control room and the safety systems rooms of unit 6 and the turbine hall of unit 3 where the team reported that there was no military equipment present at the time of its visit. This morning the IAEA experts visited the turbine hall of reactor unit 1 where they observed a total of fifteen vehicles, but no heavy weapons.

The ZNPP continues to receive off-site power from the last remaining 750 kilovolt (kV) power line and a single 330kV backup power line. The IAEA experts were informed by the ZNPP that the site currently does not have any information on the status of repairs of the damaged off-site power lines as they all pass through the military conflict areas.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, rotations of the IAEA experts have been conducted this week at the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs and a rotation of the team at the Chornobyl site is scheduled for next week. The IAEA teams at the four sites did not report any nuclear safety or security issues.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Today marks one year since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, visited Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) for the first time and established the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ). The permanent presence of IAEA experts at ZNPP has been essential in reducing the likelihood of a nuclear accident.

The IAEA has also provided ongoing assistance and monitoring in Ukraine since the start of the war, including missions, experts at all Ukraine’s nuclear power plants (NPPs), facilitating international financial support, and information sharing.

“As I said one year ago, having the IAEA permanently present at the ZNPP is of great value. There is no doubt that this presence was a game changer,” Director General Grossi said. “The presence of the ISAMZ team at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on the front lines of war has been a crucial part of the IAEAs activities to monitor the situation and assist Ukraine.”

“The presence of the IAEA was essential in helping to stabilize the situation and keeping the world informed about Zaporizhzhya NPP. I am particularly proud of the courageous staff who carry out this important work, as well as those at the other Ukraine NPPs and the Chornobyl site,” Director General Grossi added.

In order to prevent a nuclear accident that could affect people and the environment, it continues to be of paramount importance that the five basic principles for the protection of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are respected and adhered to, Director General Grossi said.

The anniversary comes just one day after a successful tenth ISAMZ rotation, with IAEA experts once again crossing the front line as the teams departed and arrived at the plant.

During the previous rotation on 3 August 2023, IAEA experts had been granted access to the reactor rooftops of units 3 and 4, which allowed them to verify that no mines or explosives were placed there or on the rooftops of the turbine halls. The ISAMZ team, therefore, expected similar access to the rooftops of the remaining four units during the current rotation. However, no such access was granted this time.

Director General Grossi reiterated the importance of IAEA experts being granted timely access to all areas of the ZNPP to monitor full compliance with the five basic principles.

The IAEA experts continue to hear explosions and the sounds of military activity taking place some distance away from the ZNPP. The ISAMZ team was informed by ZNPP that a drone had hit a residential building in Enerhodar on 23 August and that no casualties were reported. The IAEA experts confirmed that these events had no impact on the site. Director General Grossi said that these are yet another reminder of potential nuclear safety and security risks facing the facility during the military conflict in the country.

Unit 4 at the ZNPP has been in cold shutdown since 12 August after a water leak was identified in one of the four steam generators. The cause of the water leak has been repaired, initial tests were successfully performed, and further testing is ongoing. Unit 6 remains in hot shutdown for steam production on site. Units 1 to 5 remain in cold shutdown.

As previously reported, the Ukraine national regulator – SNRIU – has issued regulatory orders to limit the operation of all six units to a cold shutdown state.

In addition to the maintenance work that was performed on the steam generator, the site is performing other maintenance activities on the safety and electrical systems of the reactor units.

The team was informed, however, that there has been a considerable reduction in maintenance staff – currently at about one-third in comparison to before the armed conflict in Ukraine began — raising further concerns about the ability of the site to properly maintain the systems, structures and components important for nuclear safety and security at the plant. ZNPP said that new staff had been recruited, but it would take time for them to complete training and gain the necessary experience to work on the site – though they added that maintenance contractors from Rosenergoatom can attend at short notice to assist in the performance of maintenance tasks.

The ZNPP’s large cooling pond and its other main supply of water – the discharge channel of the nearby Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP) – remain intact, the IAEA experts said. The height of the ZNPP cooling pond continues to drop by about one centimetre per day while water from the ZTPP inlet channel is regularly pumped into its discharge channel to compensate for water used for cooling or lost through natural evaporation. The site continues to have sufficient cooling water available for many months.

The team continues to monitor the construction of wells close to the plant’s sprinkler ponds. There are now four wells in operation after the fourth well was drilled this week. ZNPP has informed ISAMZ that it intends to build a total of 10-12 wells around the sprinkler ponds in the coming weeks, which will then become the main source of cooling water for the six shutdown reactor units and spent fuel pools.

The IAEA team also continues to conduct regular walkdowns across the site. Over the past ten days, the experts have visited: the main control room, emergency control room and other safety-related rooms of unit 1, as well as the unit’s reactor hall, main pumps, steam generators, and safety system rooms; the main control room, emergency control room and other safety-related rooms of unit 4; the plant perimeter and two of the on-site radiation monitoring stations.

During these walkdowns, the team observed the presence of military trucks in the turbine hall of unit 1, but they did not observe any mines or explosives other than those previously reported.

In addition, the team visited the ZNPP 750 kilovolt (kV) open switchyard on 25 August and observed that all possible repairs had been completed and the yard was preparing for winter. Only one of the four 750kV off-site power lines remains connected, however, most recently on 10 August this power line was disconnected twice during the day, leaving the site to rely on off-site power from the backup 330kV line.

IAEA experts maintain a continued presence at Ukraine’s other NPPs and the Chornobyl site. The IAEA will conduct rotations at Rivne, Khmelnitsky, and South Ukraine NPPs next week.

This week the Agency delivered medical supplies to the Chornobyl NPP site bringing the total deliveries to Ukraine to 22 since the conflict began in February 2022. The medical supplies will be of benefit to the ChNPP personnel, and also to Agency staff present at the site. They were procured with funds provided by Germany.