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1 1 (August 29, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveiqm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: b\Congressional ____ R .fesearch Service Russian Military Actions at Ukraine's Nuclear Power Plants Updated August 29, 2022 Russia's ongoing military occupation of Ukraine's six-reactor Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP)-the largest in Europe-has raised widespread alarm about the potential for damage to the plant that could cause large radioactive releases to the environment. Russian forces attacked and captured the plant on March 4, 2022, with reported heavy fighting and artillery shelling. Shelling around the plant resumed on August 5, 2022, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to warn, Any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Shelling on August 25, 2022, disabled the plant's connections to the surrounding power grid. The loss of offsite power forced the two reactors that had been operating to shut down. The connections were restored and the units restarted the following day. Some analysts argue that attacks on nuclear power plants could be considered a war crime under international law. IAEA is negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to send an expert mission to ZNPP in the next few days to assess the physical damage to the ZNPP's facilities, determine whether the main and back-up safety and security systems were functional and evaluate the staff's working conditions, according to an August 28, 2022, IAEA statement. The two reactors operating at ZNPP are said to pose the highest risk of radioactive releases at the site, because they are running at full or nearly full pressure and heat output to generate electricity. Shutting down all the reactors at the plant would reduce that risk. When a reactor is shut down, its heat output immediately drops by about 94%, with the remaining heat continuing to be produced by the radioactive decay of nuclear materials in the reactor core. As the reactor core cools, it becomes less vulnerable to disruptions in plant cooling systems. Decay heat, even at reduced levels, must be constantly removed from the reactor core to prevent the nuclear fuel from melting. Such risks could be further reduced by transferring nuclear fuel from the plant's six reactors into adjoining storage pools, although they still must be constantly cooled. Russian military action at Ukrainian nuclear facilities has drawn high-level congressional concern. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez sent a letter on March 28, 2022, asking that the IAEA take decisive actions to mitigate the risks from the Russian Federation army's incursion, attacks, Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11883 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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