August 12, 2024

expert reaction to fire at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Scientists react to a fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. 

Prof Robin Grimes FRS FREng, Professor of Materials Physics at Imperial College London, said:

“Photographs of the site indicate the fire is associated with a cooling tower.  All the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have been in cold shut-down for months.  Consequently, they no longer require active cooling as, for example, did the reactors at Fukushima.

“However, the nuclear fuel and internals within the reactor pressure vessels is still very radioactive. As such the reactor pressure vessels must remain intact.  While, if the pressure vessel were to be breached there would not be an explosion, and I would expect the nuclear fuel to remain largely intact, cooling water in direct contact with the fuel would contain some radioactive species that would cause some contamination in the immediate area of the plant.  It is therefore very important to be assured that the reactor pressure vessels are safe and secure. 

“I have no doubt that the IAEA is seeking assurance that this is the case and that this is a top priority for them at the current time.  Of course, we do not know the cause of the fire. However, it is the current responsibility of Russia to maintain the integrity of the site and they need to be fully open and transparent to the IAEA and the international community as to exactly what is happening and explain what mediating actions they are taking to ensure the safety and security of the site – including if they require assistance, especially from the IAEA.”

Dr Mark Wenman, Senior Lecturer and Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy Futures, Imperial College London, said:

“The cooling towers in question are not close to the reactors and are not in use by the reactor at this time.  The reactors themselves have been in a state known as cold shut down for many months now meaning they do not need much heat removal any more.  The risks to the reactors is very small and the risks to the public or the environment are negligible.”

Dr Joel Turner, Senior Lecturer and Rolls-Royce Fellow in Nuclear Fuel Technology at the University of Manchester, said:

“Looking at the pictures and reports on the BBC website it certainly looks like the fire is in the cooling tower of the plant rather than nearer the core. That’s important because the plant is in cold-shutdown and has been for some time now, so the residual decay heat produced by the fuel will be minimal. Nuclear fuel continues producing heat for years after a plant is shut down, but the amount of heat it produces reduces very quickly over the first few days. Cooling towers are also usually tertiary cooling on a nuclear plant –  they are used to cool the water that cools the water that cools the core, so with the plant as cold as it is currently there should be very little risk of that causing issues with the actual fuel.”

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/?s=Zaporizhzhia&cat=

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