According to Rafael Grossi, IAEA experts were informed that a new well has already been commissioned and is now providing about 20 m3 of water per hour
Water reserves to cool the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) will be replenished through building new wells near the sprinkler ponds, but the nuclear safety situation is still unstable, Director General of the International Atopic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said in a statement that was posted on the agency’s website on Tuesday.
“The plant continues to take action to address the additional challenges caused by the loss of the Kakhovka dam some ten weeks ago. 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,” Grossi said.
According to Grossi, IAEA experts were informed that a new well, “whose location close to the plant’s sprinkler ponds was selected after consultations with geological specialists, has already been commissioned and is now providing about 20 m3 of water per hour.” Apart from that, in his words, it is planned to build an additional of 10 to 12 wells around the perimeter of the sprinkler ponds.
“The site has sufficient cooling water for many months,” he stressed.
Although all the six ZNPP reactors have been shut down, the plant still needs water for cooling. According to Grossi, water is needed to prevent fuel melting and potential radioactive emissions. The situation with water supplies to the ZNPP aggravated after the collapse of the Kakhovka hydropower plant’s dam on June 6 after a shelling attack by Ukrainian troops.
Located in the city of Energodar, the Zaporozhye NPP is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and has six power units with an aggregate capacity of 6 GW. Russian forces took control of the facility in February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian troops have been periodically shelling both the city and the plant’s territory.
Source: Tass
