Energoatom head estimates level of danger at Zaporizhia NPP at 7-8 points out of ten
Head of Energoatom Petro Kotin assesses the level of danger of the situation at Zaporizhia NPP occupied by the Russian Federation from March 4, 2022 at 7-8 points on a ten-point scale due to the presence of several factors that negatively affect it and can provoke an accident.
“On a ten-point scale, I assess the situation at Zaporizhia NPP today at 7-8 points. However, tomorrow it could be more. The main problem is uncertainty and many factors that individually may not lead to an accident, but when taken together, he cumulative effect may work. This happened at Chornobyl nuclear power plant, at Fukushima. And then the Russians will say: how did this happen? And this happened because your equipment is degraded, you don’t carry out repairs, the fuel exceeds the lifespan in the reactor, there is no personnel, no water, there is no external power supply,” Kotin told reporters during an event dedicated to the second anniversary of the occupation of Zaporizhia NPP.
According to him, the occupiers already understand that they will not receive any benefit from Zaporizhia NPP, because it is impossible to turn it on under such conditions.
“The station cannot be turned on, the units cannot be started, in particular due to the lack of water due to the loss of the Kakhovka reservoir, personnel, and communication lines,” he explained.
As for restoring the water supply, according to him, after the de-occupation of the station, it will be necessary to either fill the Kakhovka reservoir, or build pumping stations on the Dnipro bed and pull water to the station.
“But this is a very large amount of water. According to the most optimistic estimates, this will take at least six months,” Kotin clarified.
He also noted that the Russians could not reload fuel, the six-year life of which in the reactors is already expiring, although it is at the station.
“In order to reload it, you need to disassemble the reactors, gain access to it, and then carry out a very complex technological operation for reloading. This requires licensed personnel, who are not there now. There are personnel who have never done this,” he described the situation.
