Russiaʼs Rosatom handed over a plan to reconnect the plant to the annexed Crimea to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian troops.
This was reported by the president of "Energoatom", Petro Kotin, writes "Interfax-Ukraine".
According to him, the Rosatom staff handed over a special program to the station for reconnection of the ZANP to Crimea, the first prerequisite of this program is "severe damage to the stationʼs communication lines with the energy system of Ukraine." Currently, the station operates with one power output line, which is, according to Kotin, a very dangerous mode of operation of the NPP.
As the head of Energoatom explained, in order to switch the nuclear power plant to Crimea, the occupiers need to completely de-energize it and the occupied territories in the south of Ukraine.
"This is exactly what is written in the program, and after all this is extinguished, they again start to feed the region from the substation in Dzhankoy, then gradually reach Kakhovska and from there already feed the Zaporizhzhia NPP. And after that, it will no longer be possible to connect the ZNNP to the Ukrainian power system — it will remain on the Russian frequency," he said.
At the same time, the period from the moment of de-energization of the Zaporizhzhia NPP will be the most dangerous for it, Kotin emphasized. "Because all 20 diesel generators at the Zaporizhzhia NPP will be turned on, and if there are any failures of this equipment, it will threaten the melting of the active zones of the reactor," explained the head of Energoatom.
Kotin emphasized that the ZNPP is now one step away from the "first stage of the accident at Fukushima-1". "At the ZNPP, we are already very close to this first stage of Fukushima-1 because there is only one line there. As soon as it is turned off, the station will switch to diesels, and after that, everything will depend on the reliability of their work and the sufficiency of the fuel that is there for diesels at the ZNPP," stated the head of Energoatom.
- On August 5, Russian troops shelled the industrial site of the ZNPP — they hit the high-voltage communication line of an autotransformer. After that, the station was hit by rocket systems of salvo fire. Due to this, the power unit was disconnected at the station. The nitrogen-oxygen station and the combined auxiliary building were seriously damaged. There was a risk of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances.
- On August 7, the Russian military again shelled the site of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, and the rockets hit near the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel.
- Citing sources, The Insider said that the Russians are mining the station — the occupiers store mines and ammunition in the immediate vicinity of the power units and under the overpasses.