The participants of the ceremony also laid flowers at the monument of firefighters, who died while extinguishing the radioactive fire at the power plant…reports Asian Lite News
Ukraine marked the 37th anniversary of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with a commemorative ceremony at the site of the disaster.
During the ceremony on Wednesday, Ukrainian Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets, together with the Exclusion Zone employees, paid tribute to people involved in clean-up works at the plant after the disaster.
The participants of the ceremony also laid flowers at the monument of firefighters, who died while extinguishing the radioactive fire at the power plant shortly after the accident, Xinhua news agency reported.
After the ceremony, media representatives visited the New Safe Confinement (NSC) over the destroyed reactor, which was put into operation in July 2019.
The reporters observed the control room of the NSC and the monitoring systems behind the old defensive structure “Shelter”.
The radiation levels in the area were within the safe range, according to monitoring systems.
On April 26, 1986, a series of explosions ripped through the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, nearly 110 km north of Kiev, spreading radiation across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and other European countries.
The 30-km-radius area around the plant was declared the Exclusion Zone.
The arch-shaped NSC, which was erected over the destroyed reactor to replace “Shelter,” will protect the environment from radiation spewing from the unit for nearly a century.
In February 2022, Russian forces captured the Chernobyl plant and had been in control of it for five weeks.
IAEA further revealed that the maintenance activities at Unit 1 had also been reduced to minimum levels…reports Asian Lite News
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday that Ukraine had lost all communication with the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), a day after the Russian-controlled site lost all external power supplies, IAEA reported on Thursday. The agency has also informed that they are aware of reports that power has now been restored to the site and it is looking for confirmation, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
Earlier, Ukraine authorities have reported to the IAEA that emergency diesel generators that were providing electricity to the Chernobyl NPP had subsequently lost communication which meant that the regulator could no longer provide updated information such as radiation monitoring, ventilation systems and normal lighting related to the site to the IAEA.
Taking to Twitter, IAEA said, “If emergency power were lost, it would still be possible for #Chornobyl staff to monitor the water level and temperature of the spent fuel pool. They would do this under worsening radiation safety conditions and would not be able to follow operational radiation safety procedures.”
IAEA also informed that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya NPP which is also under the control of Russian forces is not in a position to deliver the necessary spare parts, equipment and specialized personnel to carry out planned repairs.
IAEA further revealed that the maintenance activities at Unit 1 had also been reduced to minimum levels. On March 3, Ukraine informed the IAEA that the Russian forces had taken the control of the site of the country’s Zaporizhzhya NPP. Ukrainian counterparts informed the IAEA that the projectile had hit a training building in the vicinity of one of the plant’s reactor units, causing a localized fire that was later extinguished.
Situation dangerous
Ukraine’s Presidential Office on Thursday warned that the situation at Chernobyl was “very dangerous” after an emergency power outage was reported at the now-defunct nuclear power plant. “The situation in Chernobyl is overall very dangerous. It is critical that certain elements of the plant receive a consistent supply of electricity,” the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper quoted presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak as saying.
The adviser warned that since “these elements have been cut off from stable access to power”, it posed a “threat to the whole of Europe. And, of course, to Russia itself”.
Podolyak added that not only has the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stopped receiving crucial data from the safety monitoring system, no one currently understood what was going on at the Chernobyl power plant.
According to the presidential advisor, Russia is targeting the nuclear plants in Ukraine to “subdue its neighbours”. According to Ukrenergo, the state energy company of Ukraine, the plant suffered the power outage on Wednesday due to which on site emergency diesel generators were turned on to provide power systems important for safety. The company said that the supply of diesel fuel on diesel generators will be enough for 48 hours.
It added that repair work to restore the energy supply was impossible due to Russian combat operations in the region. Although operations stopped at the plant after the catastrophic nuclear disaster in 1986, Chernobyl was never fully abandoned and still requires constant management, the BBC said, adding that spent nuclear fuel is cooled at the site.
Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool amid a power outage…reports Asian Lite News
Radioactive substances could be released from Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant because it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after its power connection was severed, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom said on Wednesday.
It said fighting made it impossible to immediately repair the high-voltage power line to the plant, which was captured by Russian forces after the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool amid a power outage.
Their warming could lead to “the release of radioactive substances into the environment. The radioactive cloud could be carried by wind to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe,” it said in a statement.
Without power, ventilation systems at the plant would also not be working, exposing staff to dangerous doses of radiation, it added.
On Tuesday, the UN nuclear watchdog warned that the systems monitoring nuclear material at the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl had stopped transmitting data.
The still-radioactive site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster lies some 100 km (62 miles) from Kyiv.
Its fourth reactor exploded in April 1986 during a botched safety test, sending clouds of radiation billowing across much of Europe.
Director-General also raised deep concerns about the rotation of staff at the nuclear facility which was also the site of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters in 1986….reports Asian Lite News
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is no longer transmitting data from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the facility, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi informed in a statement on Tuesday.
The Director-General indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl NPP had been lost, the IAEA press release said, adding that, the Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon.
The Director-General also raised deep concerns about the rotation of staff at the nuclear facility which was also the site of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters in 1986.
Director-General Grossi stressed that staff operating nuclear facilities must be able to rest and work in regular shifts, stating that it is crucial for overall nuclear safety.
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there,” Grossi said.
Earlier, IAEA had informed that the Russian forces at the Zaporizhzhya NPP had switched off some mobile networks and the internet so that reliable information from the site could not be obtained through the normal channels of communication.
IAEA had also informed that the plant management, including measures related to the technical operation of the six reactor units, is under orders from the commander of the Russian forces that took control of the site last week.
Earlier on March 4, Russian forces took control of Zaporizhzhia NPP. Ukraine informed the IAEA that a projectile had hit a training building in the vicinity of one of the plant’s reactor units, causing a localized fire that was later extinguished.
Regarding the status of Ukraine’s operational nuclear power plants, the Ukrainian regulator said eight of the country’s 15 reactors were operating, including two at the Zaporizhzhya NPP controlled since last week by Russian forces, and that the plants’ personnel were working in shifts. Radiation levels at the sites were normal, it added. (ANI)
