‘Meltdown Zaporizhia is not a short-term threat’ Related articles

The destruction of the dam is not an immediate problem for the cooling of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, says Professor Emeritus of Energy Wim Turkenburg of Utrecht University. “Next to the nuclear power plant is a very large cooling pond that is completely filled.”

A Ukrainian fisherman stands in his kitchen where the water is rising. (ANP / Associated Press / Evgeni Maloletka)

According to the professor, therefore, there is no immediate threat of a nuclear accident following the destruction of the dam. Turkenburg says that under normal circumstances it is not a problem to cool the reactors from the 17m deep pond for a number of weeks. And now the nuclear power plant is also completely shut down. “Those six reactors are shut down.”

fusion

But, says Turkenburg, there is still heat development and this heat must also be removed. “Otherwise there will still be a meltdown in the cores of the power plants.” According to Turkenburg, this heat development is perhaps 5% of the heat generated by the plant when it is fully operational. As long as the cooling pond is intact, it can cool the plant for weeks.

However, at some point that pond needs to be filled again, and this is normally from the tank. It is not known to what extent that lake is capable of doing this.

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Author: Mark VanHarreveld
Source: BNR

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