IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi is set to advance proposals for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around Zaporizhia NPP. He will meet senior Ukrainian government officials during a forthcoming visit to Kyiv to discuss safety at the Zaporizhia plant (ZNPP). The IAEA has had a permanent presence at ZNPP for more than four months now.
“I remain determined to make the much-needed protection zone a reality as soon as possible. My consultations with Ukraine and Russia are making progress, albeit not as fast as they should. I remain hopeful that we will be able to agree and implement the zone soon,” Grossi said.
However, in an interview with Italian public television RAI, during his recent visit to Italy, Grossi, speaking in Italian, said talks with Kyiv and Moscow had become more complicated. "It has become... a longer and more difficult (negotiating) table," he noted.
Gross told RAI that, after his planned trip to Ukraine, he hoped to visit Moscow. “The plant is Ukrainian, but under Russian control, it's a reality. And I have to work with both of them", he said. “Having a permanent team on site was the first concrete and tangible result of our activity, but we cannot stop, the important thing is to protect the safety of the plant.”
Recently a new team of three IAEA experts arrived to replace the previous team that had been there for several weeks. It is the fifth IAEA team at the site since the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhia (ISAMZ) was established on 1 September 2022.
The ISAMZ team reports that the ZNPP’s last remaining 330 kV back-up power line is now connected to the plant, after suffering some further disconnections in the last week, due to renewed shelling. ZNPP still receives off-site power for its six closed down reactors from its last remaining operational 750 kV external power line.
In case of loss of external power, all the site’s 20 diesel back-up generators are ready to supply the site with the electricity needed to maintain operation of safety related equipment. In addition, nine mobile diesel-fuelled boilers are now operating to help prevent critical ZNPP systems from freezing during the winter and provide heating for ZNPP personnel.
Grossi also reiterated his serious concerns about the pressure that ZNPP staff are facing, with potential consequences for nuclear safety and security. “The reduced ZNPP staffing levels combined with psychological stress due to the on-going military conflict and the absence of family members who fled the area have created an unprecedented situation that no NPP staff should have to endure,” he said. However, the ISAMZ team has been informed that despite all the challenges, the ZNPP still has adequate operational staff to maintain the safe operation of all units at the plant’s current level of functioning.
During his interview with RAI, Grossi said only a third of the total number of employees continued to work at ZNPP. "At the moment, out of 10,000 employees of the station, we have only 3,000-4,000 thousand who continue to work. Many have left the region, others no longer want to work," Grossi said.
In December, Rosatom asked all employees to sign new labour contracts. At the same time Ukrainian nuclear utility urged them not to agree and implied that those who did so would be considered traitors. Initially Rosatom still allowed those who did not sign contracts to continue working but after discovering evidence of planned sabotage at the NPP said those who did not sign would no longer be allowed on the premises. On 13 January, Energoatom said on its Telegram channel: “Once again, we urge you not to sign any contracts with the enemy, so as not to become direct accomplices of the aggressor and not to destroy your own future.”
Energoatom also said it would “fulfil all its financial obligations to the nuclear workers of ZNPP… who continue to remain loyal to Ukraine and that they would “receive all the payments promised by the company”. These included “wages, remuneration based on the results of 2022, and bonuses for the Power Engineer's Day”.
In addition, “employees with a pro-Ukrainian position” would receive a bonus for working “in difficult conditions of occupation” … in the amount of 20% of the official salary backdated to April, and from 1 January 2023 this would increase to 50%. It added: “ZNPP personnel will receive all these funds immediately after the station and its satellite city Energodar are returned to full [Ukrainian] state control. We are also talking about those workers who are not allowed to work by the occupiers.”
Meanwhile, Russian controlled ZNPP has opened vacancies for specialists. “Vacancies are open at Zaporozhye NPP for the positions of managers and engineering and technical specialists for maintenance of the power units. In the current year, 2023, it is planned to start work related to both the repair campaign and the extension of the operating life of power units 1, 2 & 6,” the notice said.
It added: “All this should be done in conditions of active integration of NPPs into the Russian legal field in full compliance with the requirements of [regulator] Rostekhnadzor, including the staffing of the operating organisation. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen ZNPP by specialists from Russian NPPs built according to projects similar to the Zaporozhye NPP.”