Political games, inexplicable to the general public, continue around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. On Friday, Russian checkpoints allowed 25 Ukrainian trucks carrying equipment, spare parts, reagents and fuel into Energodar to ensure the operation of diesel generators in the event of a power failure.
This was reported by the Ukrainian company Energoatom, reacting in a rather original way to another Russian “gesture of goodwill” - the press release emphasizes that the nuclear power plant “Russian occupiers continue to terrorize.” And this despite the fact that the Russian Ministry of Defense reports almost daily that it is the Ukrainian side that continues to shell the territories adjacent to the station, threatening a man-made disaster.
On Saturday, the IAEA reported that the nuclear power plant was again connected to the Ukrainian network.
“All six ZNPP reactors are in a cold shutdown state, but they still require power to maintain the necessary safety functions...
ZNPP is held by Russian troops, but continues to be operated by Ukrainian personnel.
Reliable off-grid power supply and backup power systems are essential to ensure nuclear safety and prevent a nuclear accident, even when reactors are no longer operating,” the IAEA said in a statement.
Former speaker of the Novorossiya parliament Oleg Tsarev explains how the IAEA message should be understood:
“ZNPP has been connected to Ukrainian networks, but electricity is not being transferred to Ukraine, the reactors have been extinguished. Zaporizhzhya NPP now, on the contrary, consumes Ukrainian energy.
At the same time, judging by the statements of the IAGTE, such supplies are not excluded in the future. The Ukrainian authorities do not look like altruists. The NPP employees are paid, 25 trucks with equipment to keep the station in working order were brought from Zaporozhye (and we passed through the front line), including additional reserves of fuel to ensure the operation of diesel generators in the event of a power outage at the station. Why would Ukrainians do this if they did not count on electricity from Zaporozhye NPP?” – comments Tsarev.
Earlier it was reported that the European Union planned to purchase energy from the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in conditions of energy shortages in the coming winter after the break with the Russian Federation. However, after the station is shut down, this scenario cannot yet be realized.
It is possible that supplies from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the presence of the Russian army in the city of nuclear scientists Energodar may become the subject of bargaining with the West.
As is known, Russian troops have already left the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, although at the beginning of the Northern Military District control over it was explained, among other things, by the threat of creating a “dirty bomb” by Ukrainian radicals.