Russia has drawn up a detailed plan to disconnect Europe’s largest nuclear power plant from Ukraine’s electricity grid, risking a catastrophic failure of its cooling systems, the Guardian has reported.
World leaders have called for the demilitarization of the Zaporizhzhia site after images emerged of Russian army vehicles inside the plant, and have previously warned Russia against cutting off the Ukrainian grid and connecting it to the Russian power grid.
But Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s atomic energy company, told the Guardian in an interview that Russian engineers had already drawn up a plan for a switch for emergency planning purposes in case of fighting the remaining power connections.
“They showed up [the plan] a [workers at] the plant, and the plant [workers] presented it to us. The precondition for this plan was severe damage to all the lines connecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian system,” Kotin said in an interview on Ukraine’s independence day on Wednesday, with the country largely locked down due to of the threat of Russian attacks.
He fears that the Russian military will now target these connections to make the emergency scenario a reality. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of bombing the site.
“They just started doing this, they started all the bombing, just to take out those lines,” Kotin said.
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Other threats to the plant’s nuclear safety include vehicles so cramped in the turbine rooms that firefighters would have trouble accessing them if a fire broke out, and a campaign of terror against workers who have chosen to stay at the plant first line
One was bludgeoned to death and another was so badly wounded that it took three months to recover. More than 200 have been arrested, Kotin said.
The plant’s electricity connections are already in critical condition, with three of the four main lines connecting it to Ukraine’s grid broken during the war, and two of the three backup lines connecting it to a conventional power plant are also down, he said.
Petro Kotin said he fears Russia is targeting lines connecting the Zaporizhzhia site to Ukraine’s power grid to make the scenario of an “emergency switch” a reality. Photography: Misha Lubarsky
Russia’s plan to shut it down entirely would increase the risk of a catastrophic failure by leaving it dependent on a single source of electricity to cool the reactors. “You can’t switch from one system to another immediately, you have to … shut everything down on one side and then start switching on the other side,” he said.
During a switch between grid systems, the plant would rely only on a backup diesel generator, with no other options in the event of failure. After only 90 minutes without power, the reactors would reach a dangerous temperature.
“During this disconnection, the plant will not be connected to any power source and that is the reason for the danger,” he said. “If you don’t provide cooling… for an hour and a half, you’ll be gone.”
Russia took control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in March, but it is still run by Ukrainian workers. In recent weeks there has been growing alarm over Russian management of the site and pressure on Moscow to allow a visit by UN inspectors.
Russia took control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in March, but it is still run by Ukrainian workers. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
Kotin said inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog could be at the plant in a week or two to check safety, following progress in negotiations with Russia on a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency Atomic Energy (IAEA).
Kotin is also concerned about the risk of fire from vehicles packed into the turbine rooms, which sit next to the two still-operating reactors. There are 14 trucks in one room, and at least six in another, plant sources have told him.
“If there is a fire in the turbine room, you don’t even have the possibility to put it out or mitigate the consequences of that fire, because your firefighters can’t get in, because any entrance is blocked by the trucks, they’re just packed into it,” he said.
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Any fire could spread to the reactor buildings, where a fire would have disastrous implications far beyond the immediate region.
“This situation is very dangerous not only for the plant, for Ukraine, but also for the whole world, because you can never tell what the weather will be like and what the direction of the wind will be. [would be].”
Many other military vehicles are lined up under overpasses, built to house pipes and walkways between the reactor and turbine complexes, Kotin said, perhaps to protect against drones.
He praised some 9,000 workers still on duty at the plant, up from about 11,000 before the war. Many evacuated their families, but remained in their places because of the need for a qualified team to operate it.
Modernizations of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants after the Chornobyl disaster mean that, although the plant was built to Soviet specifications, Russian engineers lack the skills to operate it.
“They’re actually heroes to us, they’re just doing their jobs in such incredible conditions,” said Kotin, who knows the plant and its workers well because he spent most of his career there. He arrived as a young graduate and rose to become CEO.
The rockets have also landed within two dozen meters of 174 containers of spent fuel housed at the plant, which would be more vulnerable to weapons than the reactors, which are built to withstand the impact of a passenger plane.
“It’s probably going to take two blasts from maybe two missiles in one container and after that, it’s going to break,” he said. “We actually had a rocket come in just 10 or 20 meters from the site [where the containers are stored].”
However, Kotin said he hoped nuclear inspectors would be able to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant in “one, maybe two weeks”.
“There is progress in the negotiations… there are only modalities of the mission to be finally agreed between the parties, and then they will leave. And I’ve actually seen some plans that will go at the end of the month.”
He said he was also confident that the Ukrainian workers who have sacrificed so much for the plant could keep it safe.
“In any case, we will not allow the Russians to lead the world to nuclear catastrophe, and we will do everything possible to bring the plant back under our full control and operate it safely and reliably, as it has always been.”