Western European Nuclear Regulators Association calls for urgent repair of 2 damaged ETLs at Zaporizhzhya NPP

KYIV. March 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association (WENRA) has analyzed the situation with a partial loss of external power supply at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and called for urgently repairing two damaged electrical transmission lines.

"WENRA notes the need for two damaged 70 kV electrical transmission lines at the Zaporizhzhya NPP to be urgently repaired," WENRA said in a statement published in social media by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine on Friday.

WENRA also called for guaranteeing the power lines' physical integrity and the deliveries of fuel and other supplies, as well as spare parts for emergency diesel generators at all four Ukrainian NPPs.

The workgroup formed by WENRA to evaluate safety levels at the Zaporyzhzhya NPP has found that in the presence of alternative ways to maintain power supply (emergency diesel generators), the NPP can prevent the situation from reaching critical levels even if it loses all external power sources.

As reported earlier, the Zaporizhzhya NPP on March 17 lost connection with three out of five available power lines. As a result, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the remaining two operating energy units of the station (the other four are on standby or are undergoing maintenance) "slightly decreased their power supplies to the grid today to adapt to the changed power line situation," the IAEA said.

"The two operating units at the Zaporizhzhya NPP have gradually increased their power output to two thirds of their maximum capacity of around 1000 Megawatt electric each after the repair last week of two power lines, one external and one on-site," the IAEA said on Monday with reference to the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.

The Zaporizhzhya NPP, Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, has four principal high-voltage transmission lines plus one on standby mode.

Ukraine's Ukrenergo National Power Company said on March 18 that its specialists had repaired a 750 kV power transmission line linking the Zaporizhzhya NPP to the Kakhovka substation.