IAEA mission documents damage to substations critical to the operation of Ukrainian NPPs
25 December 2024 08:49
An observation mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the power substations identified by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine as priorities to ensure the safe operation of nuclear power plants. This was reported by Ukrenergo, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
In particular, on December 17-22, IAEA experts documented the damage caused to high-voltage substations during three massive missile and drone attacks in November-December.
“Recording Russia’s energy terrorism and the consequences of its attacks on critical infrastructure is very important, as the civilized world must do everything possible to stop Russia from using energy as a weapon, in particular against civilians. We expect that the IAEA’s involvement will become a factor in deterring the aggressor and a tool for collecting evidence for future international trials,” said Oleksii Brekht, Acting CEO of NPC Ukrenergo.
As a reminder, the December IAEA mission was the third in the last three months. In September, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi agreed to expand the mandate of the IAEA monitoring mission in our country. The Agency’s inspectors were tasked with monitoring the safety situation not only at NPPs but also at key substations of the electricity transmission system.
Sustainable external power supply to nuclear power plants is one of the key factors in ensuring nuclear safety of NPPs. In particular, this was enshrined in the resolution of the extraordinary meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on December 12 this year – after the latest Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power system.
Funds are coming to strengthen the protection of substations
the 86 million euros that Ukrenergo received from the European Investment Bank the day before will be used to build anti-drone protection at key substations of the electricity transmission system.
Acting CEO of NPC Ukrenergo Oleksii Brekht said that work on the construction of protection continues, and the effectiveness of the already implemented projects has been proven, in particular, during the recent massive drone attacks in November-December.
“But the more substations we manage to protect, the more resilient the Ukrainian power system will be, the lower the risk of forced blackouts for consumers,” emphasized Alexey Brekht.
The European Investment Bank remains a reliable partner of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Bank has provided Ukrenergo with a total of EUR 136 million in loan support.
