Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant seen on Sunday. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
The president of Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom told CNN that the power units at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remain in a cooling state as work continues to restore the plant’s power lines.
Speaking to CNN via Skype, Petro Kotin said that all seven lines connecting to the plant were damaged and that it had been switched to what he called “island mode”, where the plant was supplied with electricity solely by herself
“We tried to extend the operation of one of our power units as long as possible, even in the conditions where it was operating in island mode. It worked for us for three days,” he told CNN.
Kotin said only one of the six power units was still operating and supplying the plant’s needs: the electricity needed for the pumps that cool the nuclear material. The reactors “are full of nuclear material, fuel and there are also six pools that are located near the reactors of each power unit. It needs to be cooled constantly,” he said.
“The danger is that if there is no power supply, the pumps will stop and there will be no cooling, and in about an hour and a half to two hours you will have a meltdown of that fuel that is in the reactor “, added. .
Kotin reiterated that when there is no external power source, the diesel generators could kick in. “From today the diesel generators can run there for ten days.”
“We are also doing our best to get additional supplies. But we understand that it is very difficult to bring anything there. The railway is damaged, so only vehicles can do it,” he said. “If there is now a loss of external energy, then we will only have one option. Diesel generators,” he added.
Kotin said representatives of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), remained at the plant. “They have meetings with the management of the plant twice a day, so they have all the current information about the operation of the plant,” he said.
Regarding the IAEA’s proposal for a safety zone around the plant, Kotin said, “We don’t fully understand what exactly that safety zone means.”
He repeated the Ukrainian government’s line that the plant should return to Ukrainian control and the power plant itself and the area around it should be demilitarized.