TOMSK, March 10. /TASS/. Ukraine’s defunct Chernobyl NPP, which still uses electricity to keep spent fuel at manageable, safe temperatures, does not pose any risks even though it experienced a power outage on Wednesday. The reactor is shut down and the fuel assemblies are kept in a special water pool big enough for cooling them. Also, the power plant is equipped with standby diesel generators in case of a blackout, the chief of the Russia’s sole research nuclear reactor east of the Urals at the Tomsk Polytechnic University, Artyom Naimushin, told TASS.
The Russian military have established control of Ukraine’s Chernobyl and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants. Earlier, the Ukrainian regulator said that the Chernobyl NPP had experienced a disruption of electric power supply, crucial to cooling spent nuclear fuel. Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov has said Ukrainian nationalists had staged a provocation by attacking power grid facilities responsible for the Chernobyl NPP’s electricity supply, but Russian specialists took prompt action to commission standby diesel generators.
"There are standby diesel generators. They are turned on whenever an outage occurs. Nothing can happen to the reactor. It is empty. It’s just as shell. There are radioactive substances inside, a large amount of spent graphite and metal. They may be hazardous if taken out or approached too closely, but as long as they stay inside the reactor, they are unable to cause harm. As for the water pools where spent fuel rods are cooled and kept in store for some time, their design has a wide passive safety margin. The amount of water is large enough to prevent overheating or other emergencies," Naimushin said.
He added that the facility is being withdrawn from operation and readied for safe disposal. The preparatory work will take several dozen years.
"The power plant is shut down. Fuel has been removed from three reactors and the damaged fourth is inside a shelter. There are no threats, provided the station is kept safe from acts of sabotage, unauthorized penetration into the shelter or attempts to extract some materials. It is a defunct facility. Over the past 30 years great efforts have been exerted to make it as safe as possible," Naimushin said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Wednesday the Chernobyl NPP is under the joint protection of the Russian army, Ukrainian specialists and the National Guard. "Kiev’s claims about a 20-fold increase in radiation levels at Chernobyl have nothing to do with the reality," she stressed.
Zaporozhye NPP and special operation
Nuclear physicist Dmitry Sednev, acting rector of the Tomsk Polytechnic University, told TASS that Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant uses better safety systems and, according to the IAEA classification, the most reliable pressurized water reactors, so radiation contamination is ruled out there, too.
"The pressurized water reactors there have highly automated, multi-tier systems of protection from external and internal threats. For instance, the reactor’s hull capable of withstanding the crash of an airplane. In case of a negative scenario the power plant will be shut down and disconnected from the region’s power grid without any escape of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. Then a package of measures will have to be taken to restore the powerplant to capacity operation," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He said Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukrainian territories. The sole purpose is the country’s demilitarization and denazification.