9 Mar 2022 15:11

Ukrenergo reports blackout at Chernobyl NPP

KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has lost all power, system operator NPC Ukrenergo said.

"Military action is continuing, which makes repair work and resumption of power supply impossible," the company said.

The National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom said the blackout of all nuclear facilities in the exclusion zone is associated with damage to the 750 kV transmission line of the Chernobyl NPP, the Kyivska substation, which also led to a blackout in the city of Slavutych. "There are some 20,000 spent fuel assemblies in Spent Fuel Storage Facility 1. They need constant cooling, which is possible only if there is electricity. If it is not available, the pumps will not produce cooling. That will increase the temperature in the cooling ponds, there will be vapors and release of radioactive substances into the environment. Wind can carry the radioactive cloud to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Europe," the report said.

Energoatom said ventilation at the facility will not work if there is no power supply and all personnel will receive a dangerous dose of radiation. "The fire extinguishing system is not working, either. This is a huge risk in the event of a fire that can occur as a result of a shell hit. Hostilities are currently continuing, which makes it impossible to do repair work and resume power supply," Energoatom said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier said remote data transmission from the safeguards control systems installed at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had stopped.