Vienna, March 10 (Agency) Ukraine has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has been disconnected from the power grid, but this will not have a critical impact on the essential safety functions at the site, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said. “The Director General expressed deep concern about this development as the ‘secure off-site power supply from the grid for all nuclear sites’ was one of seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security that he outlined at a meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors on 2 March, convened to address the safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine,” the IAEA further said in a statement.
“In the case of the Chernobyl NPP, however, he said the IAEA agreed with the Ukrainian regulator that its disconnection from the grid would not have a critical impact on essential safety functions at the site, where various radioactive waste management facilities are located,” it stated. It said that regarding the site’s spent fuel storage facility, the volume of cooling water in the pool is sufficient to maintain effective heat removal from the spent fuel without electricity supply. “The site also has reserve emergency power supplies with diesel generators and batteries,” the IAEA added.