A Russian armored all-terrain vehicle is parked near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant during an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission visit during the Ukrainian-Russian conflict near Energodar in Zaporizhia region, Ukraine, September 1, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Yermochenko/File photo
September 11 (Reuters) – Operations at the Russian-owned Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine have been completely shut down as a safety measure, the state-run Energoatom agency in charge of the plant said Sunday.
The station was “completely shut down” after the agency disconnected Unit 6 from the grid at 03:41 (00:41 GMT), it said. “Preparations are underway for its cooling and transfer to a cold state.”
Kyiv on Wednesday urged residents of the Russian-occupied territories around Europe’s largest plant to evacuate for their own safety.
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Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling a nuclear power plant, which is fraught with a nuclear catastrophe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the demilitarization of the surrounding area.
Energoatom said on Saturday it restored to working order a communication line to the power grid, which it said had been damaged by Russian shelling, allowing the power plant to be powered by the Ukrainian power grid.
“Therefore, a decision was made to shut down power unit No. 6 and transfer it to the safest state – a cold shutdown,” the report says. It says the risk of further damage to the line “remains high” which would force the station “to be powered by diesel generators, the duration of which is limited by the technological resource and the amount of available diesel fuel.”
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Reporting by Lydia Kelly; Editing by William Mullard
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