Rosatom, or the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, has asked the IAEA to check the security and safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. This was reported by Deputy Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who briefed President Vladimir Putin on Rosatom’s plans. Given that the political and economic situation in Ukraine is absolutely unstable, security and safe operation of NPPs in Ukraine is becoming both a domestic and international problem.
Today Ukraine has 15 operational power-generating units at four nuclear power plants and four shutdown units at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. The plants are operating in standard mode, but there is every reason to suspect that security officers are unreliable, Dmitry Rogozin says. Extremists invariably grow interested in facilities like that amid anarchy and chaos, to resort to blackmail for political purposes.
Besides, there have been problems recently around the transportation of nuclear fuel from Russia to Eastern Europe via Ukraine. Nor has Russia been supplying Ukraine with that fuel. The reserves that Ukraine currently has will last it for no more than a month. The situation that’s taken shape poses both a physical threat to Ukraine proper (due to likely acts of sabotage) and threatens Russia with economic risks. Ukraine may also have its energy balance upset. This is a dangerous factor, a nuclear expert Igor Ostretsov says, and elaborates.
Nuclear power production in Ukraine, Igor Ostretsov says, is of paramount importance, given that Ukraine is the world’s second-biggest nuclear power generator. Ukraine has the Rovno and Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants (four and two power generating units respectively), with the most powerful unit located at the Zaporozhe nuclear plant. In other words, Ukraine depends a lot on nuclear power production. But it’s become dangerous to run nuclear power plants in the current situation in Ukraine, above all, in the west of the country. But then, ending nuclear power generation abruptly would cause horrific consequences.
Today it is private security firms, Interior Ministry and National Security Service units that guarantee security along the perimeter of the facilities. But the security problem has become one of crucial importance, given the current anarchy and chaos in Ukraine.
This is what Deputy Head of the Duma Committee for Natural Resources, Management of Nature and Ecology, Maxim Shingarkin, said in this context in an interview with the Voice of Russia.
Today it is important in terms of ensuring security of nuclear facilities, Maxim Shingarkin says, not only to abide by energy production safety standards, but also to protect nuclear power plants as hazardous facilities. Acts of sabotage against nuclear power plants, above all, if nuclear reactors are operational there, will have unpredictable consequences. To prevent the nuclear fuel from exploding, the reactor, the plant perimeter and the power supply system should be effectively protected.
Maxim Shingarkin adds that the means of protection that Ukraine has been using to that end, namely armed security officers and covert observation cameras are clearly insufficient to guarantee security to sensitive survival facilities in a crisis situation. International practice shows that if the situation around nuclear power plants is aggravated, these plants should be protected by specially trained units. But it’s a big question whether such units are battle-worthy or available at all in Ukraine today.
Source: Voice of Russia