Enerhoatom: second Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Station power unit reconnected
Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency Enerhoatom said on their Telegram channel that another power unit had been reconnected at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.
“Despite the multiple provocations of the occupiers, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station continues to work in Ukraine’s energy system and meet the electricity needs of our country,” the message reads.
The news about the second power unit being turned on was shared by the company yesterday evening. Several hours before that, the news about the first power unit being reconnected was posted by Enerhoatom.
On 25 August, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station was disconnected from the grid. Only one of the four power connections was still functioning, but it had to be turned off due to fires at the ash dump sites near the station. The other three power connections were previously damaged.
Member of the pro-Russian Zaporizhzhia region administration Vladimir Rogov previously said that due to the power connections not working it was physically impossible to supply energy to Kyiv controlled territories, and all the generated electricity was supplied to the occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Rogov blamed the Ukrainian side for the disconnection; Enerhoatom blamed Russian military’s actions.
On the same day, The Telegraph reported claims from anonymous power plant employees that they had been tortured and intimidated by Russian soldiers. According to the employees, the Russian army does not want them to tell the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation that is supposed to soon arrive at the plant about the safety risks occurring at the power plant.
“Our management keeps silent about it, not to create panic, but people who return after those basement ‘conversations’ don’t say anything at all. It will be no surprise if during the mission they will suddenly start saying what they were told to say,” The Telegraph quotes one of the employees.
Earlier, the authorities of the European Union and 42 countries called upon Russia asking it to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. In the statement, they said that Russia controlling the power plant prevented “the operator and the Ukrainian authorities from fulfilling their nuclear and radiation safety obligations”. Before that, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Russia and Ukraine to immediately cease hostilities near the power plant.
On 5 August, the Russian Defence Ministry accused the Ukrainian military of shelling the power plant, while Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency said that it was Russia’s doing. Since then, both sides have been periodically bringing forward similar accusations.
According to the Russia-controlled city administration, on the morning of 27 August, Ukrainian troops shelled the city of Enerhograd 20 times. The administration claims that five of the strikes hit the territory of the power plant.