Ukraine considers closing Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukraine is considering closing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant due to the deteriorating security situation, said Oleh Korikov, Ukraine’s chief state inspector for nuclear and radiological safety.

If conditions arise that require the plant to be shut down, the plant and power unit number 6 will be shut down,” Korikov said on Wednesday.

“The continuing deterioration of the situation, the prolonged lack of power supply from an external source of electricity will force us to deploy standby diesel generators and it is extremely difficult to replenish the diesel supply during the war,” added Korikov.

Korikov said keeping diesel generators running would not be sustainable.

In an interview last month, Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin explained why diesel generators are not a sustainable alternative.

Diesel generators are backups to cool the fuel and keep things operational, but there are caveats to using them indefinitely and it’s a “dangerous” situation, he explained.

“Reliability issues can be an issue because in this case they may be required to work indefinitely with limited capacity to be constantly in work mode,” added Kotin.

Korikov’s concerns are along the same lines as tensions continue at the factory.

“It takes four huge diesel tanks a day,” explained Korikov. “Potentially, we could find ourselves in a situation without diesel fuel; can cause an accident, damaging the active zone of the reactors and releasing radioactive products into the environment. It will not only affect the territory of Ukraine, but will also have cross-border effects.”

Currently, the plant “generates electricity and supplies it for its own needs” through an exceptional process called islanding, where the plant – although disconnected from the electrical grid – uses its own energy to power the cooling systems, according to Korikov.