Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant digs new cooling wells amid nearby shelling

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant has started pumping water from the first of a dozen or so planned new groundwater wells as officials attempt to shore up sufficient cooling sources for its six reactors after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam earlier this summer, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Aug. 22.

The collapse of the downstream dam on June 6 caused much of the water in the Kakhovka reservoir to spill into the surrounding countryside, eliminating the primary source of water used to cool the nuclear power plant’s reactors. 

That forced Europe’s largest nuclear plant to start looking for alternative sources of water, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in an Aug. 22 statement.

An IAEA team of experts at the site reported that the new well, located close to the plant’s sprinkler ponds, selected after consultations with geological specialists, has already been commissioned and is now providing about 5,300 gallons of water per hour. Plant personnel intend to build an additional 10-12 wells around the perimeter of the sprinkler ponds, the IAEA said.

“The plant continues to take action to address the additional challenges caused by the loss of the Kakhovka dam some ten weeks ago,” Grossi said. “The fact that more wells will be built should add to the water reserves available for cooling. However, the overall nuclear safety and security situation remains precarious.”

Aside from concerns about cooling the plant’s reactors, military activity continues in the vicinity, threatening the facility’s integrity, the IAEA said. The agency’s team on the ground continues to report shelling and bombing in the area, “sometimes close to the site, sometimes further away,” the IAEA said. 

A strong detonation shook the team’s room windows on Aug. 14 and gunfire was heard two days later, the IAEA said. Another explosion near the site occurred on Aug. 17, five detonations were heard some distance from the plant on Aug. 20 and five more on Aug. 21.

As part of their monitoring activities at the ZNPP, the IAEA team expects access to the rooftops of reactor buildings 1, 2, 5 and 6 “in the coming days,” the IAEA said. 

Earlier in August, the team did not observe any mines or explosives on the rooftops or turbine halls of units 3 and 4 after receiving the requested access there.