Chernobyl 2022
Travel AmazingChernobyl 2022
For reasons of public knowledge, we are talking about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the travel tours to the Chernobyl zone have been suspended until further notice
Damaged Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, Occupied by Russia, Loses Outside Power
The site of the worst nuclear accident in history, where a yearslong cleanup is underway, is now dependent on power from diesel generators and backup supplies.
By David E. Sanger and Henry Fountain
March 9, 2022
Ukrainian government officials said Wednesday that damage by Russian forces had left the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant “disconnected” from outside electricity, leaving the site of the worst nuclear accident in history dependent on power from diesel generators and backup supplies.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday that there was no need for immediate alarm over the condition of the decommissioned plant, where workers have safeguarded nuclear waste since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. But officials said the situation around the site remained a source of grave concern.
Russian troops have occupied the facility since the early days of the invasion last month. The I.A.E.A., a United Nations agency, said the loss of power violated a “key safety pillar” but said it saw “no critical impact on safety” at this time because the amount of water in cooling ponds and around radioactive waste was sufficient to keep the nuclear material under control, even without continuous power to the plant. Part of the reason is that the used fuel assemblies are old and not as dangerous as they once were.
The American Nuclear Society, a professional group, agreed. “The loss of power is a serious matter but it does not pose a threat to the public,” it said in a statement.
Russia’s Energy Ministry said Wednesday that Belarus, whose border is near the Chernobyl facility, was working on restoring power from its own grid.
Still, there were clearly deep worries in the nuclear community about the long-term fate of the facility, which is staffed by several thousand workers who oversee the plant and its fuel and waste storage, as well as other nuclear plants in Ukraine.
The shelling last week of a different, operating nuclear power facility caused a fire at a training building, and led to calls from President Biden to the embattled president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr. Biden later denounced the military action, at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex in southern Ukraine, as “reckless.”
Chernobyl, which is in an “excluded zone” north of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, was right on the invasion path for Russian forces flowing south from Belarus. There have been reports from the Ukrainian government — which has called for a cease-fire around the plant to allow inspectors and other workers to get in — that the 200 or so staff members who were on duty at the time of the invasion are still there and are working under guard. They have not been rotated out in nearly two weeks.
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety,” the I.A.E.A.’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Early in the day on Wednesday, Ukraine’s nuclear regulator said backup generators had fuel to operate for 48 hours, and painted a dire picture of what could happen if the plant remained off the power grid for longer than that. The less dire statements from the I.A.E.A. followed, and some other experts generally played down the risks.
A former longtime employee at the plant with knowledge of conditions, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety, said that in addition to the diesel generators, safety and monitoring systems are powered by batteries and other backup means.
The I.A.E.A. said that it had lost communications with its sensors at the plant. That may be the result of the loss of electric power. While that does not pose an immediate risk, it means there would be no comprehensive way of detecting a rise in radiation levels or quickly determining where it was coming from. The former employee said that, as of Wednesday, radiation monitoring could only be done using portable devices like Geiger counters.
He also noted that the workers were facing daunting conditions, in part because of the loss of electricity. With temperatures well below freezing, there is no way to heat workplaces, he said, and provide hot meals to the staff, who have been working without a break since the Russian troops moved in. Replacement crews cannot reach the site because of the fighting, and some transport routes are blocked because of destroyed bridges. TSA Liquid Rules