Interview of the Acting Chairman of the State Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority - Chief State Inspector for Nuclear Safety of Ukraine Oleg Korikov to the publication "S&P Global"
The supply of spare parts to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine may soon “be exhausted if we do not refill them,” the acting chief nuclear inspector for the Ukrainian nuclear regulator said in an interview in Brussels June 21.
Oleh Korikov, of the State Nuclear Inspectorate of Ukraine, noted that “all plants have spare parts” and that while the 6-GW Zaporizhzhia plant currently had all of the spare parts that it required, there was also at present no way to replenish such parts as the facility is currently controlled by Russia. The parts in question include valves, for example, and consumables that are used during plant operations, he said.
Russia launched its military invasion of Ukraine Feb. 24. Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia plant and the neighboring city of Enerhodar March 4, although personnel from the Ukrainian state nuclear power company Energoatom continue to operate the plant.
Korikov also said that the SNIU would like to postpone any inspection visit by representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to the Zaporizhzhia plant until after the plant had been taken back from Russian control, as SNIU “could not guarantee the safety” of IAEA inspectors during such a visit. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said repeatedly, including again June 29, that a visit by the IAEA to the site is critical to ensuring nuclear safety, security and safeguards are maintained there given the unusual situation.
“The presence of the Russian occupiers at Zaporizhzhia is already a threat to the plant. The Russian occupiers are terrorizing the personnel working at the Zaporizhzhia plant and the residents of Enerhodar,” a city near the plant where many of its employees live, according to Korikov.
“It was similar with Chernobyl during its occupation, but that is now under full Ukrainian control, Korikov added.
The “situation at Zaporizhzhia remains complicated, ammunition is located directly at the plant, this is entirely unacceptable from a safety perspective, there are more than 50 Russian military vehicles on site at the plant, a lot of explosives are lying around the site of the plant, it is very dangerous,” he said.
Korikov confirmed that all nuclear plants in Ukraine that were under Ukrainian government control were now operating in regular mode, but “there is no certainty that this will happen in the future.”
A “huge amount of infrastructure and manufacturing and production capacity in the country has already been destroyed” by the Russian attack, posing a “serious risk” to the continued supply of spare parts and replacement items to the country’s nuclear units, Korikov added.
Korikov also said that Ukrainian nuclear plants were also “under threat of missile attack, there are Russian cruise missiles flying over nuclear plants, including Zaporizhzhia, this creates clear risks of a nuclear accident.
“Nuclear plants are simply not designed to operate under hostile conditions and do not have protection from military actions. Such facilities are vulnerable, the world community simply could not imagine such attacks.” Korikov said.
There is also a “real threat of damage to power supply given the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine,” according to Korikov.
“Stable power supply is at risk, the cooling of fuel is a risk [if power supply is interrupted to any nuclear unit], this is of great concern. If immediate restoration of power is not possible and there is nonadmission of rescue and repair services, this can result in radioactive output from fuel assemblies and an accident,” he said.
Korikov said that the world “needed new standards to prevent a similar situation” from occurring again. The world “could strengthen the international regime, to prevent war against any state who has nuclear power plants, but that would need world consensus,” Korikov added.
Refusal to take Russian nuclear fuel
Korikov said that Energoatom had decided to refuse to accept delivery of any more nuclear fuel from Russia and that the country was working on the basis of a “transition to a friendly [fuel] supplier.”
Westinghouse nuclear fuel has “been in use in Ukraine since 2015 and there have been no abnormal operations,” Korikov said.
Currently, four VVER-1000 units at the Zaporizhzhia plant and two at the South Ukraine plant already operate on Westinghouse fuel and Energoatom was starting to load Westinghouse fuel into its Rivne-3 reactor, according to Korikov.
Asked how much VVER reactor fuel Ukraine currently had in storage to allow its plants to continue to operate, Korikov said that Westinghouse had told Ukraine that it could supply all of the country’s nuclear units within two years and that Ukraine had enough existing VVER fuel in storage to allow its plants to continue to operate until then.
He also said that he was confident that Westinghouse would be able to supply all of Ukraine’s plants within that timeframe.
Korikov said that Energoatom was also in the process of implementing a switch to Westinghouse nuclear fuel at the two VVER440s at the Rivne plant. Rosatom’s TVEL has been the only qualified supplier of VVER-440 fuel in recent years.
The “first cycle of nuclear fuel from Westinghouse at Rivne will be completed by the end of next year, by the end of 2023,” Korikov said.
IAEA assistance
Korikov noted that Ukraine had in April 2022 applied for assistance through an International Atomic Energy Agency program for the safety and physical protection of nuclear installations and equipment.
Countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Romania, the UK and the US had all agreed to provide assistance, but so far under this program, Ukraine had only received portable spectrometers from the US, on May 16, according to Korikov.
“That is the only input through this system to date, a huge amount of” spare parts and other material “is expected to support the [Ukrainian nuclear] fleet,” Korikov said.