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Ukrainian authorities warned Wednesday that radioactive material could leak into the atmosphere after the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant was reportedly disconnected from the power grid by Russian forces, raising the risk that spent nuclear fuel stored at the site may not cool properly.
“Because of military actions of Russian occupiers, the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl was fully disconnected from the power grid,” Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator, said in a statement.
Ukrenergo added in a Facebook post that emergency diesel generators have been activated in response to the electricity shut-off, but noted the fuel would last for just 48 hours.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s national nuclear energy firm, cautioned Wednesday that without adequate electricity, “the temperature in the [spent fuel] holding pools will increase” and “release of radioactive substances into the environment may occur.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, characterized the state of the Chernobyl plant as “an extremely dangerous situation.”
About 20,000 spent fuel assemblies are stored in the spent nuclear fuel storage facility-1. They need constant cooling. Which is possible only if there is electricity. If it is not there, the pumps will not cool. As a result, the temperature in the holding pools will increase.
— SSSCIP Ukraine (@dsszzi) March 9, 2022
Russian military forces quickly seized control of the Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe, soon after they invaded Ukraine late last month, heightening fears of another nuclear disaster.
On Tuesday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi said in a statement that “remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl [nuclear power plant] had been lost.”
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety,” Grossi added. “I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there.”
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