The Zaporijjia nuclear power plant continues to be on the verge of an accident. The security environment around the six reactors deteriorated sharply on Thursday, August 25, after a fire led to the disconnection, for several hours, of the power plant from the electricity grid. It was disconnected twice when the fire affected the fourth and last high voltage line exporting the electricity produced on the site. The other three high-voltage power lines have been damaged by recurrent artillery fire, for several months, around the plant.
However, Ukraine announced on Friday August 26 that it had connected the plant to its electricity grid. “One of the reactors shut down the day before was reconnected to the electricity grid today”, announced Energoatom on the Telegram network, while ensuring that its security systems were working normally. The reactor “produces electricity for the needs of Ukraine” et “the increase in its power is in progress”. Energoatom ensured that the site’s security systems were functioning normally.
The essential cooling of the reactors
Electricity supply is essential for cooling the plant’s six reactors (two of which are in operation) using pumps. In the event of a power outage, the power station is supplied by an emergency line connected to a thermal power station and a hydroelectric dam. Three of these lines existed before the war, but two were damaged. If all the lines are out of service, emergency diesel generators provide power to prevent overheating, which was the case on Thursday August 25, in accordance with standard procedure. If the generators fail or run out of fuel oil to run them, engineers have only 90 minutes to avoid dangerous overheating.
“The installation has always been supplied with electricity by the power line that connects it to a thermal power plant, relativizes Teva Meyer, lecturer in geopolitics and geography at the University of Haute-Alsace. The Zaporizhia plant has become a tool of information warfare for both parties who are raising the threat of a nuclear catastrophe in the direction of European public opinion. »
A fire on the south side of the power station
The cause of the fire that broke out on the southern flank of the plant remains controversial. For weeks, Moscow and kyiv have accused each other of bombing the site. The UN has called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the plant to guarantee its security and to allow the dispatch of an international inspection mission. The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi hopes to be able to go there very soon at the head of a mission of experts. This mission will take stock of the situation and the necessary repairs and will meet with the Russians in charge of the plant as well as with the Ukrainian personnel who continue to ensure its operation.
Moscow ready to disconnect the power plant from the Ukrainian network
The day before the incident, Wednesday August 24, Petro Kotin, CEO of Energoatom, told the British daily The Guardian that Russian engineers had drawn up a plan to disconnect the site from the Ukrainian grid and connect it to the Russian electricity grid in order to supply the occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea. Before the war, the plant supplied more than 20% of Ukraine’s electricity needs.