At the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the south of Ukraine, currently occupied by Russian troops, the procedure of “cold shutdown” of reactor No. 1 has begun. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on January 4 after discovering a water leak at one of the steam generators, but without any radioactive emissions.
“The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will house power unit No. 1. 4 is in a ‘cold stop’ state to determine the exact cause of the water leak and carry out repair work on the damaged steam generator,” the IAEA, which has a team of inspectors at the station, said in a statement. , EFE and Agerpres report.
The IAEA also reported that reactor No. 1. 6 will be put into a “warm shutdown” state in the coming days to produce steam that is used for various safety operations such as liquid nuclear waste processing.
The nuclear regulator has issued an instruction to operate all reactors in the “cold shutdown” mode, so the transition from unit #100 6 will violate this provision.
On Thursday, the IAEA insisted that the safest option would be to install external steam generation equipment.
“Repeated power outages highlight the ongoing and precarious security situation at the plant”
The UN agency in Vienna also confirmed that the plant’s main power line had been cut on Thursday and that the plant had to resort to a backup connection without the use of emergency generators, as has happened several times in the past.
“Repeated blackouts highlight the ongoing and precarious nuclear safety and security situation at nuclear power plants,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned on Thursday.
The IAEA also noted that no mines or explosives had been found in the new locations during inspection visits last week, but confirmed the presence of such devices in locations where they had already been detected on July 23.
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the IAEA has called for the creation of a safety zone around this station to avoid the risks of nuclear accidents. The security situation of the Zaporizhzhya NPP is even more worrying, as it is located in the zone of the current Ukrainian counteroffensive.
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Source: Hot News
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