Short thread on the dangers of the fire at Zaporizhzhya NPP.

As of 8am this morning, according to Ukraine's regulator, three of six reactors were connected to the grid; the other three were offline. However, ALL the units will need cooling if they have any fuel inside. (1/n)

I assume that the three operational reactors have now been scrammed (switched off). In this case, all six reactors will be reliant on external power for cooling. (2/n)

A fire could damage the connection to the national power grid (if it was still intact after the shelling). It could also threaten backup power supplies (including emergency diesel generators and diesel supplies). (3/n)

I'm sure this fire will be a priority for fire services. But I can only imagine what else they have to deal with right now and fire crews are at obvious risk in traveling to the plant. (4/n)

Without cooling, there will be a meltdown--precisely what happened at Fukushima in 2011. The meltdown there was accompanied by explosions in three units (IIRC) caused by hydrogen (produced by water being split as the fuel cladding burnt).
(5/n)

I'll speculate that the plant was probably not deliberate targeted and it was essentially collateral damage. The Russian campaign has been brutal and sloppy. But, right now, it doesn't matter much, frankly. (6/n)

Russia must stop all operations in the vicinity of the plant (say within 50 km) immediately and allow Ukrainian operators and emergency services to deal with the situation. No ifs no buts. (7/n)

Here's the websites for the Ukrainian regulator and the plant itself. As of now, radiation levels look normal to me, though I know know how often this data is updated. (8/n)

snriu.gov.ua/en/timeline?&type=posts
www.npp.zp.ua/en/activities/performance-indicators

Here's my analysis of the risks from last week, which unfortunately holds up well. (9/n)

carnegieendowment.org/2022/02/24/most-immediate-nuclear-danger-in-ukraine-isn-t-chernobyl-pub-86521

As they have been every night for the last week, my thoughts are with the Ukrainian people--particularly the brave operators and fire fighters managing this fire--at they face this illegal and horrific onslaught from Russia. (10/10)

UPDATE (11/11)