Chernobyl Nuclear Storage Facility Running on Diesel Generators as Threat of Nuclear Contamination Soars

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba has made an official plea to the International Community and the Russian Federation to declare a cease-fire near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant today. The NPP has been under the control of the Russian Federation since the initial days of the Russian invasion on February 24th, 2022.

Russian Forces route of advance on February 24th, 2022.

This plea comes after Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom said radioactive substances could be released from the plant because it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after its power connection was severed. As we reported last night, the International Atomic Enforcement Agency (IAEA) declared that their remote monitoring systems lost connection to the plant. These remote monitoring networks record the radioactive activity and Closed-Circuit-Television (CCTV) coverage of the facilities that house the spent nuclear fuel. These systems were either intentionally or accidentally disabled during the fighting and subsequent occupation by about 400 Russian troops.

The State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine tweeted: “Kyiv high-voltage line is currently disconnected due to the damage caused by the occupiers. As a result, the Chernobyl station and all nuclear facilities in the Exclusion Zone are without electricity. 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.”

Example Wet Pond Nuclear Storage Facility in Crystal City, Florida.

It is important to remember that the Chernobyl NPP has not been active since 2000. Both the zone and the former power plant are administered by the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management. The three other reactors remained operational after the 1986 disaster but were eventually shut down by 2000, although the plant remains in the process of decommissioning as of 2021.

However, the 20,000 spent fuel assemblies, probably Uranium, are supposed to, usually after about 18 months, be moved to deep pools of circulating water to cool down for about 10 years, though they remain dangerously radioactive for about 10,000 years. In 2021, Ukraine authorized the establishment of their dry-storage facility at Chernobyl which was supposed to store these spent assemblies in a double casket storage block, surrounded by inert air, in order to reduce the risk of cooling facilities losing power (which is exactly what’s happening now). However, it is unclear how much of the waste was successfully transferred before the Russian invasion in February 2022.

One of Ukraine’s Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility’s dry cask storage cells.

If the current conflict continues to deny the cooling pools electricity, the radiation heat will burn off the pool water, eventually causing the assemblies to melt and expose the reaction to the environment. With the worst-case scenario being an unfettered meltdown that could contaminate Europe’s water table, soil, and air.

The facility has emergency diesel generators that have about 48 hours of fuel supply, which have already been running for about 3 hours.

This story is developing.

 

 

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Tessaron
Tessaron
United States Military Academy and American Military University Alumni. Victor covers flash military, intelligence, and geo-political updates.
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