Ukraine war: Chernobyl radiation fears as minister calls for Russia to allow for urgent repairs - Sky News

A Ukrainian minister has said Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on a power line to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - warning radiation could be leaked if an electricity outage continues.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said "reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity" to power the facility.

On Twitter, he added: "After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent."

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Image: A safe confinement structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl site. File pic

However, the UN nuclear watchdog said it "sees no critical impact on safety" over the loss of power at Chernobyl, which is about 100km (62 miles) from Kyiv.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) added the plant, which has been disconnected from the country's power grid, has "sufficient" cooling water for spent nuclear fuel.

The Chernobyl plant is the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in April 1986.

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The Ukrainian authorities said with emergency generators currently supplying back-up power, the outage could put systems for cooling nuclear material at risk.

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The cause of the damage to the power line serving Chernobyl was not immediately clear, but it comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The site has been under the control of Russian troops since last week.

Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenerho said that, according to the national nuclear regulator, all Chernobyl facilities are without power and the diesel generators have fuel for 48 hours.

Without power the "parameters of nuclear and radiation safety" cannot be controlled, it said.

#Ukraine has informed IAEA of power loss at #Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, @rafaelmgrossi says development violates key safety pillar on ensuring uninterrupted power supply; in this case IAEA sees no critical impact on safety.

— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 9, 2022

'Radioactive cloud could be carried to other regions'

Ukraine's state-run nuclear company Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool during a power outage - and 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.

Energoatom said without power, ventilation systems at the plant would also not be working and would leave staff exposed to dangerous doses of radiation.

Ukraine has informed the IAEA of power loss at Chernobyl. France is in contact with the UN watchdog as it seeks to assess the situation - and was also asking Russia to co-operate.

French President Emmanuel Macron had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure the protection and security of Ukraine's nuclear sites during talks at the weekend.

Chernobyl: What do the experts think?

Experts have said the situation at Chernobyl is "unhealthy" and presents "several areas of concern".

Tony Roulstone, from the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, said that cutting the power to Chernobyl "could lead to the core overheating" but it is "probably not as worrying as Fukushima because the Chernobyl reactors have already been shut down for a few days".

He said: "Nevertheless, it is a most unhealthy situation for both them and the surrounding area."

Mr Roulstone added "the lack of ventilation and fire systems will become a problem" if there was a fuel "release" or a fire.

Professor Tom Scott from Bristol University said he "would concur with the IAEA statement" that the spent fuel "does not present a substantial risk, even with the current power outage".

He added: "The fuel in these pools is decades old, and hence has very little residual heat being generated."

Professor Claire Corkhill is the chair in Nuclear Material Degradation at Sheffield University and said: "With the electricity supply to the Chernobyl site unavailable, there are several areas of concern with regards to the safety of the nuclear material stored there."

She said one of those is "the maintenance of the ventilation system in the new safe confinement structure".

"If there is no power to this structure, we could see the complete failure of the 1.5 billion euro decommissioning programme to make the site safe once and for all," she added.

Professor Geraldine Thomas, of Imperial College London and director of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank, said: "In the unlikely event of a release of any radiation, this would be only to the immediate local area, and therefore not pose any threat to Western Europe."

On Tuesday, the IAEA said the systems monitoring nuclear material at Chernobyl's radioactive waste facilities had stopped transmitting data.

Ukrainian officials have confirmed they do not know what the radiation levels are in Chernobyl following its capture by Russian troops.

Around 400 Russian troops are said to be stationed at the power plant.

Maria Zakhorava, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the site was operating as normal.

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2022-03-09 16:11:45Z
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