We constantly expect any criminal actions at ZNPP by occupiers – Energoatom head
Russian occupiers can commit any crime at Zaporizhia NPP at any time, including similar to what occurred at Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP), President of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom Petro Kotin has said.
"In fact, we are constantly expecting any criminal actions on the part of the occupiers, who are in complete control of the situation there. The plant is completely mined along the perimeter, the access routes, the approaches to it," he said during the United News national telethon on Tuesday.
According to him, there is no information about whether the power units themselves are mined, but it is known for sure that heavy equipment is located directly in the halls of the power units.
"And it is in this equipment that there can be explosives, weapons, and other dangerous substances. In addition, the occupiers have set up checkpoints on the roofs of the reactor compartments, and there are also explosive materials and weapons," the head of Energoatom said.
As reported, after the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP, Kotin said that the actions of the Russian invaders, who went to such a man-made disaster, indicate the possibility of similar actions on their part at the ZNPP.
"They threaten to leave ZNPP in a deplorable state as well. And in fact, having such plans in mind, a lot can be done at ZNPP, how to damage its equipment and bring it to an accident. It will be much easier for them to do this than to blow up the Kakhovka reservoir, and the consequences will be much greater," the head of Energoatom said.
For its part, the State Nuclear Regulation Inspectorate of Ukraine, two days after the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP, which led to a decrease in the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir, ordered that the last of the six ZNPP reactors, which is still in hot shutdown, reactor No. 5, be put into cold shutdown mode.
"In the context of the loss of the main designed source of replenishing spray ponds [from Kakhovka reservoir], it is necessary to immediately begin transferring ZNPP reactor No. 5 to the cold shutdown, while the designed mode of operation of the necessary cooling systems is yet maintained," the inspectorate said.
So far, according to unofficial data, this reactor is in a hot shutdown.
ZNPP has not produced electricity since September 2922.
