Fire at ZNPP has stopped: what is known so far
12 August 2024 09:44
The fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant controlled by Russian troops has stopped. This was announced by the head of the Dnipro Regional State Administration Serhiy Lysak, reports "Komersant Ukrainian"
“The fire on the territory of Zaporizhzhya NPP has stopped. The radiation level in the Nikopol region is normal. We keep the situation under control,”
– the statement said.
On the evening of 11 August, President Zelenskyy reported a fire at Zaporizhzhia NPP.
“Enerhodar. We are reporting from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Currently, radiation indicators are normal. But as long as Russian terrorists retain control of the nuclear power plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal,”
– the President wrote on Telegram and added a video showing black smoke coming out of the cooling tower.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko assured that as of 22:30, the radiation background in the area of the ZNPP remained unchanged, with no man-made radionuclides detected.
According to the head of the Nikopol district military administration, Yevhen Yevtushenko, the Russian military burned a large number of car tyres in the cooling tower of the plant.
“According to unofficial information received from sources on the opposite bank, the Russians set fire to a large number of car tyres in the cooling tower. This may be a provocation or an attempt to create panic in the settlements on the right bank of the former reservoir. Currently, ZNPP is operating in a normal mode, as far as possible under the occupation,”
– the official wrote.
The IAEA confirmed the fire after a series of explosions. “Energoatom suggests that it could have been caused by the occupiers’ negligence or deliberate arson.
The Russian side traditionally blames Ukraine – z-channels spread information that the fire was caused by a Ukrainian drone.
ZNPP
Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the third largest in the world by total capacity. Located in the Zaporizhzhia region near the city of Enerhodar, it consists of six nuclear power units of 1 GW each. Construction began in 1981, and the first unit was commissioned in 1984. The last unit, the sixth, was commissioned in 1995.
ZNPP produced about 40 billion kWh of electricity annually, which was about 20% of Ukraine’s total power generation. It is also the first nuclear power plant in the country to have a dry spent fuel storage facility.
The Russian army seized ZNPP on the night of 4 March 2022, having previously shelled the nuclear facility. Russia has also occupied the city of Enerhodar, near which the plant is located.
Since the beginning of the Russian occupation, Zaporizhzhia NPP has experienced eight full blackouts and one partial blackout, with emergency diesel generators and safety systems being launched. According to Energoatom, their failure threatens to cause an emergency.
The last time the plant faced the threat of a blackout was on 22 March this year after Russia’s massive shelling of Ukrainian energy facilities.
