russian invaders at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant brought power unit No. 4 from a "cold shutdown" state to a "hot shutdown" state. Instead, power unit No. 6, according to the IAEA, is being brought out of a "hot" state into a "cold" one.
"The presence of russian military personnel, weapons and heavy equipment at the Zaporizhzhya NPP site, as well as non-compliance with the requirements of licenses of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, leads to the inevitable degradation of the plant's safety-critical equipment and systems. This can lead not only to an increase in the number of equipment failures, but also provoke the occurrence of a radiation accident," President of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" Petro Kotin stressed.
He reminded that the fulfillment of license requirements for the operation of nuclear power units is a guarantee of safe operation of NPPs, which is the safety of personnel, the population and the environment.
He added that "licensing requirements are based not only on the provisions of the rules and regulations in force in Ukraine, but also take into account many years of domestic and international experience in the operation of nuclear power plants." Under the requirements of the licenses of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine for the operation of ZNPP power units, which were amended in June of this year, all power units of the plant must be exclusively in a "cold shutdown" state. Moving power units to a more dangerous "hot shutdown" state is prohibited.
"Such requirements for the operation of ZNPP power units were put forward due to the lack of timely and high-quality maintenance and the necessary ongoing repairs of the equipment during the entire period of occupation of the power plant. But the fake administration neglects not only the legal requirements of the legitimate operator – Energoatom – and the regulator, but also common sense," Energoatom’s head highlighted.
As a reminder, such actions of the occupationists have already led to several emergencies. In particular, at power unit No. 4, due to its heating, a primary-to-secondary leak of radioactive coolant (water) occurred, which is a breach of one of the boundaries to the spread of radioactive contamination.
A similar situation occurred during the invaders' attempt to "warm up" power unit No. 6. In addition, its transition to a "hot" state caused a significant increase in the amount of liquid radioactive waste at the site, which carries potential harm to personnel, the public and the environment.
