After more than a year of trying, International Atomic Energy Agency teams experts on Monday were granted access to the sixth and final reactor hall at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.
Situated on the frontlines of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the plant has been under Russian occupation almost since the beginning of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
IAEA teams on site, overseen by Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, have regularly crossed the frontlines to maintain a presence at the plant, which Grossi has said is at risk of a nuclear incident if power is permanently cut to the site. The teams also inspect for the presence of weapons and combat troops at the plant, which puts it at risk for bombardment by opposing forces.
The teams continually monitor the state of the plant’s six reactors, the power that cools them and the backup generators that kick in when external power is unavailable. The teams have previously gained access to five of the plant’s six reactors, the buildings that house them and their roofs.
As of Friday, plant personnel – not affiliated with the IAEA – had still not allowed the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to the plant team to access the unit 6 reactor hall, proposing instead that the team enter the area in about a week’s time. However, access was granted sooner.
“These restrictions on the experts’ timely access to the ZNPP are impeding the IAEA’s ability to assess the safety and security situation, including confirming the reported status of the reactor units, spent fuel ponds and associated safety equipment, independently and effectively,” Grossi said Jan. 12.
While in the reactor hall, the team observed the reactor’s main components, confirming that the reactor is in cold shutdown, the IAEA said. While the team was in the reactor hall, the operators transferred the operation of the cooling pumps of the spent fuel pool from one safety train to another, the agency said.
During a visit to the other areas of unit 6 on Monday, the team visited the turbine hall but were denied access to other areas of the reactor, the IAEA said. The IAEA teams have been unable to access all parts of the turbine hall of each unit since October.
The team also visited the safety system rooms of unit 6 to assess the status of boric acid deposits previously found. During its visit, the team did find boric acid deposits in three rooms. The IAEA team also visited the unit 6 emergency diesel generators to confirm their operation.
