Ukrainian personnel of Russian-occupied Zaporizhia NPP cannot independently carry out the transfer of block No. 5 to a cold shutdown, but there is some information that the so-called "plant management" from Rosatom will allow this, President of the state-owned enterprise Energoatom Petro Kotin has saod.

"The ZNPP employees can theoretically initiate the switching of power unit No. 5 to a cold shutdown, but physically they cannot do it, because the situation is controlled by the rashists. The cold shutdown is the safest state of operation of the power unit under any conditions," Kotin told reporters during a visit to one of the nuclear power plants on Wednesday.

He also called the decision of the State Nuclear Regulatory Commission of June 8, 2023 to transfer the last of the six ZNPP power units, which is in a hot shutdown, to a cold one, logical after the decrease in the level of Kakhovka reservoir due to the explosion of Kakhovka HPP and the loss of the ability to feed ZNPP cooling pond. According to him, there is also hope that the IAEA mission and directly Head of the agency Rafael Grossi will be able to convince the occupiers to ensure the transition of the unit to a cold shutdown.

Regarding the issue of steam production for technological processes, which unit No. 5 will stop producing after being transferred to the cold shutdown, the president of Energoatom said: "Some radioactive waste processes take this steam, but there is an absolute minimum amount of this substance, so you can stop it and do not talk about the steam at all."

Kotin said restoring the previously decommissioned start-up-reserve boiler house, from which steam could be taken if all units were stopped, "this is many months of work."

"At Zaporizhia NPP, this boiler house was decommissioned a long time ago, as no one could have imagined that all six power units of the NPP itself, as well as four power units of the TPP, which is located nearby, could be stopped," the company's head said.

Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko, for his part, said the situation with the undermining of Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the decrease in the level of Kakhovka reservoir would be critical for ZNPP if the plant were operating.

"Grossi is aware of this problem with non-cold shutdown. I hope he will be there and will be able to influence accordingly. But now it is not critical. Now I have a more important question: how will we launch it after the de-occupation. We will have to look for deciding how to provide cooling. This is another difficult challenge," the minister said.

According to Chairman of the State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Ukraine Oleh Korikov's statement at a briefing at the Media Center in Kyiv, a 1,000 MW power unit consumes 10-15 million cubic meters of water per year.