Russians shell Zaporizhzhia NPP again, leaving one employee wounded

The occupying forces again launched rocket attacks on the site of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on August 6. They hit near the station's dry spent nuclear fuel cask storage facility. One of the employees of the station was injured, reported Energoatom, the state enterprise responsible for the operation of all nuclear stations in the country.

The company believes that Russians aimed precisely at dry cask storage containers with spent nuclear fuel, which is stored in the open near the sites of shelling. In total, there are 174 containers, each with 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel.

As a result of the shelling, three radiation monitoring sensors around the site were damaged. Energoatom explains that it is now impossible to detect and react in a timely manner in case of deterioration of the radiation situation or leakage of radiation from containers of spent nuclear fuel.

About 800 square meters of window surfaces in various buildings of the station were damaged due to numerous small fragments from the explosions. As a result of the explosions, an employee of the ZNPP also received a shrapnel wound. He was hospitalized.

Energoatom assures that all Russian military personnel and personnel of the Russian Rosatom hid in advance in the plant's bunkers. In total, up to 500 Russian military personnel have been at the ZNPP site since the day it was captured.

The invaders also fired near the territory of the lightweight steel factory and at the water intake of the city of Enerhodar.

Background

After the occupiers attacked the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on August 5, the power unit there was turned off. As of the morning of August 6, the ZNPP was operating with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards.

Energoatom said that as a result of the attack, the nitrogen-oxygen station and the combined auxiliary building were seriously damaged. There are also risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high.

In addition, the Russian military "hid" in the basements of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — they occupied all the basements where they hide from shelling. Regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said that after two power lines were damaged as a result of the Russians' attack on the ZNPP, a fire broke out, which was extinguished by employees of the State Emergency Service.

Citing its source, The Insider writes that the Russian occupying forces were probably mining the engine room of one of the power units of the ZNPP. And according to another source of the publication, the territory around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been mined.

Reaction

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, expressed his concern over the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant captured by the occupiers of Ukraine and called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

At the same time, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that Russian terrorists have become the first in the world to use a nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, for terror. He assured that Ukraine will draw the world's attention to this and insist on new sanctions against Russia.

The president also criticized the human rights organization Amnesty International, which did not officially react to the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia NPP by Russian troops, although before that it accused the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians.

The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, also condemned the actions of the Russians.

"This is a serious and irresponsible breach of nuclear safety rules and another example of Russia’s disregard for international norms," ​​he stressed.