What has and is really going on with the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant near Crimea? The following information was pieced together in an effort to answer this query.
Russia has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the repeated shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
Moscow wants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, to brief the other members on the situation at Zaporozhye, so that the public can be made aware of ‘Ukrainian provocations.’ The meeting is due to take place on Thursday.
Russia has accused Ukraine of subjecting the plant to drone and artillery strikes. Ukraine has denied the attacks, and has accused Russia of using the plant as a military base. Russia maintains control over the plant, which is staffed by Ukrainian workers. The IAEA has not had access to the site since the start of the conflict in Ukraine due to security concerns, and it has condemned the fighting that has taken place in and around the plant, warning of ‘the very real risk of a nuclear disaster,’ and of the dangers of proliferation of nuclear material."
Russia’s TASS News Agency reported the following at 4:30pm today:
The more shelling of the NPP [Nuclear Power Plant] takes place, the faster we come to the conclusion that it is necessary to stop supplying electricity to the territories under the control of Zelensky's regime," Vladimir Rogov said
MELITOPOL, August 11. /TASS/. Ukrainian shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant territory will lead to the termination of power supply to Kiev-controlled territories, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye region's military-civilian administration, told TASS on Thursday.
"The more shelling [of the nuclear power plant] takes place, the faster we come to the conclusion that it is necessary to stop supplying electricity to the territories under the control of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky's regime. Because we do not plan to finance this regime with electricity and other resources. And secondly, this is how they (Kiev - TASS) spend the money they save not on development, not on creation, but on attempts to shell, kill and reduce the population in the liberated territories," he said.
The Ukrainian military attempted to attack Energodar and the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant with drone strikes and heavy artillery overnight and on Thursday morning, but Russian air defense systems have repelled all the attacks. On Thursday afternoon, the Ukrainian armed forces shelled the power plant again.
Since the beginning of August, the Ukrainian armed forces have attempted at least five strikes against the nuclear power plant and Energodar: on August 5, they shelled the plant area three times, on August 6, the Zaporozhye NPP sanatorium and the water intake in Energodar came under fire, on August 7 there was another strike on the NPP, the spent nuclear fuel storage area was in the target area.
George Eliason, an American from Boston who has been living in Ukraine since 2010 and in the Donbass since 2012, reported on Zaporozhye August 9th.
Today, George provided an update. Essentially, what George and other analysts, along with people in the area feel is going on is that the Kiev regime is deliberately targeting the nuclear waste storage facility at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in order to provoke the explosion of a “dirty bomb.”
George identifies the dirty bomb as the nuclear power plant itself. He also says that they have taken out the power lines that go to the cooling system which, in itself is very dangerous. Might that be what this Ukraine supporter was crowing about earlier today?
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, will brief the United Nations Security Council on Thursday about the nuclear safety and security situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and his efforts to agree and lead an IAEA expert mission to the site as soon as possible.
The meeting, scheduled to start at 3pm EST (9 pm CET), takes place a few days after shelling at the ZNPP sparked widespread alarm about the potential risk of a severe nuclear accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which has six reactors.
The United Nations invited Director General Grossi to address the 15-nation Security Council via video link. The meeting will be open for media.
“I welcome this opportunity to inform the United Nations Security Council about the extremely serious situation facing one of the world’s biggest nuclear power plants, now located in the middle of an active war zone. An accident at this plant could threaten public health and the environment both in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, as well as further away,” he said.
The Director General will provide details on how the shelling on Friday and Saturday breached virtually all the seven indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars that he outlined at the beginning of the conflict almost half a year ago, including those related to a nuclear power plant’s physical integrity, functioning safety and security systems, staff and external power supplies.
“I will also brief the Security Council about my plans and preparations to personally lead an IAEA mission to the site in the very near future. Now more than ever, the IAEA’s presence at the plant is of paramount importance to help reduce the danger of a possible nuclear disaster there,” he added.
The mission would carry out essential safety, security and safeguards activities at the ZNPP, which is occupied by Russia but continues to be operated by its Ukrainian staff. It would also provide impartial and independent information about the status of the facility.
Director General Grossi reiterated that the mission would require the cooperation, understanding and facilitation of both Ukraine and Russia, as well as the continued support of the United Nations and Secretary General António Guterres.
According to Ukraine, last week’s shelling at the ZNPP caused some damage at the plant, including to its external power supply system, and one reactor was disconnected from the grid. But there was no damage to the reactors themselves and available radiation measurements have continued to show normal levels at the site.
Please listen to George’ Eliason’s update published today which includes some interesting information and analysis from his own experience.
According to George,
A meltdown isn’t the actual worst case event. It’s not. Not even close. Most of the bad goes underground… The real worst event is when a contaminated cooling pipe is broken.
This is why the IAEA needs to do its job. They need to drop the politics. And they need to get to Zaporozhye and examine the plant.
George went on to to say that, ‘an inspection will easily determine the direction the shelling came from. That’s part of the reason why Ukraine does not want the IAEA there with inspectors who would actually have to take photos.’
The Stalker Zone provides some interesting background information and commentary with regard to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant which is held by Russia.
I will briefly answer Readers’ questions. For people over 40, the topic is sensitive, many are involved in the “Chernobyl disaster” or faced the consequences of that accident. Without preface: we are talking about an act of nuclear terrorism on the part of Kiev. If to not act, the situation can become unmanageable and end up with really serious costs. Whether a catastrophe will happen or not is a question that can only be answered by the Russian Army, not by nuclear physicists.
Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) did not start being targeted last Friday, if we remember. Back on June 18, the Ukrainian Armed Forces deliberately hit the checkpoint of the ZNPP, knowing the shift schedule perfectly well, hoping for a large number of people waiting for buses to the satellite city of Energodar. The terrorist attack was not a success, but the second goal was partially achieved, the nuclear power plant workers began to refuse to go to work in such a dangerous place.
Thanks to the efforts of the military-civil administration, the tension was lifted, and the producers of “Quarter 95” [Zelensky – SZ] reported to the curators: look how clever we are, we managed to break through the air defence of a strategic object, give us a more serious weapon, we’ll do it in an adult way next time. Washington is not hot or cold from a nuclear catastrophe among European natives, so HIMARS MLRS appeared in Ukraine. And Europe shrugged its shoulders, continued to talk nonsense “the Russians are firing at themselves”…
So, if something happens to the reactors of the ZNPP according to the “Chernobyl scenario”, it will not seem enough to anyone. 70% of the radioactive fallout will go to “European partners”, such is the prevailing wind rose. According to the head of the National Defence Management Center of the Russian Federation, General Mikhail Mizintsev:
“In the event of an accident at the ZNPP, a global man-made catastrophe will occur that in terms of the scale of radioactive contamination will significantly exceed the consequences of accidents at the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants.
The population of the Kiev, Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Poltava, Kherson, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kirovograd, Vinnytsia regions, Donbass, the border regions of Russia and Belarus, as well as Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania will be in the zone of radiation contamination.”
What did the Old Lady say to that? Nothing, parroting the version of Zelensky and Arestovich. In every possible way preventing the arrival of IAEA experts, who for several months could not be sent to nuclear facilities in Ukraine, and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi, who in March behaved like a normal person, and today showed that the last independent international organisation was bent over by the Americans, babbles about some kind of closing of the sky over the nuclear power plant, does not recognise the attacks as Ukrainian, demands UN guarantees.
Well, Russia has appealed there. But dawdler Guterres was banned from acting by the same United States, and it is not profitable for it that the international community should be convinced of the reliability of the ZNPP under our protection. The circle is closed, we will see how much the world is concerned about its own health. Although, I am ready to assume that the IAEA experts will be asked (on our part) to compare Kiev’s reports on spent nuclear fuel. The issue of creating a “dirty bomb” was on the junta’s agenda, it’s not for nothing that the first throws of the Special Military Operation take place precisely at the Chernobyl and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants. There must have been something there.
And the first attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were aimed precisely at the site of the ground storage of dry spent fuel. There, in the open air, there are 174 special containers, each containing 24 assemblies of radioactive materials. If to tear the storage to shreds, nothing terrible will happen, it will end in the local contamination of a small area, but the information howl can shake the foundations of the universe. Or hide Kiev’s machinations with the IAEA reports.
ZNPP spent nuclear fuel storage facility
Now about the nonsense that the producers of “Quarter 95” made up around the attacks on the ZNPP. How the infernal Russians brought hundreds of tons of weapons and ammunition to the station, use the production sites as a logistics hub and an artillery position. And the malevolent employees of ROSATOM are doing something chemical with the reactors, preparing a second Chernobyl disaster in order to accuse the white and furry Ukrainian neo-nazis of nuclear terrorism.
Pan Zelensky, against this background of the choicest clinical nonsense, “calls on the international community to achieve the creation of a demilitarised zone around the nuclear power plant and introduce peacekeepers!” And sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry. Of course, he is echoed by “Western experts” and politicians, arguing that Putin is using the ZNPP to play on the West’s fears of a nuclear catastrophe, force it to abandon arms supplies and “weaken the will of NATO”. Rich…
No one is interested in documentary evidence and facts that attacks are conducted from Ukrainian territory, 155-mm shells of NATO standard arrive, and one of the attacks was carried out by a Polish-made “WARMATE” strike aircraft complex. Who is the “nuclear terrorist” here? Useless, deaf as a post and Russia is to blame. Black lesbian migrant (due to a fierce misunderstanding, the White House press secretary) Domovënok Kuzya said:
“The United States calls on Russia to cease all military operations at or near Ukrainian nuclear facilities and return control of them to Ukraine.”
I won’t waste any space on selected nonsense performed by the head of European diplomacy Borrell and US Secretary of State Blinken, a complete clinic. That the Russians have placed artillery systems on the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and are treating the UAF with impunity in the hope that there will be no return fire from peace-loving Banderist fighters at the nuclear facility. And UN Secretary-General Guterres calls for an end to the shelling. At the same time, without naming the culprit of provocations, not wanting to send experts to investigate on the spot.
And Biden, having conquered his jacket and once again greeted the void after quarantine, immediately signed a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, generously pouring on Kiev ammunition for HIMARS. If there are tactical missiles “ATACMS Block IA” with a high-explosive warhead … it’s necessary to raise the alarm. Their inertial control system with GPS guidance is capable of delivering supplies to stationary targets with a spread of five meters, and the final section of the flight path is vertical, a very difficult target for air defence systems. The range of such an ATACMS missile is about 90 kilometres.
Exhale…
So, there is no real threat of destruction of the reactors of the ZNPP with the weapons that Kiev has at its disposal today. This does not mean that they will not appear, but even several ATACMS Block IA missiles must consistently break through the two concrete floors of the reactor hall and the protection domes in order to open the way for the next high-precision ammunition to the “rods and glasses” of the reactors. Able to withstand the fall of an airliner or a front-line bomber with a full load. In engineering theory, although no one has tested it.
If we talk about certain technological rooms that provide cooling of the reactor and water circulation (the accident at Fukushima), then the effective impact of tactical missiles is completely excluded, vital nodes and pipelines of the primary circuit with radiation water are located deep underground and covered with “heavy concrete” of the foundation and base of the reactor.
The only thing that can cause alarm is an unpredictable chain of damage to service systems, which will end in a major design accident. The protection is activated and the fuel rods are automatically reset. The point here is the qualification of personnel, their professionalism, the ability to act correctly in an emergency. But the probability of such scenarios is extremely low.
Find out who benefits from it…
Now about the reasons that prompted the Kiev junta to engage in dangerous nuclear games. It is impossible to look into the heads of war criminals and terrorists, but it is quite possible to build guesses. ROSATOM employees have been working at the ZNPP for two weeks, they are busy integrating the plant into the unified energy system of Russia through the Kakhovskaya power line. Curator of the restoration of Donbass and the liberated territories of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin ordered that all work be completed before the autumn, uninterrupted power up to Crimea is needed.
And the remnants of Zelensky’s Ukraine will have to pay for electricity from then on, because the ZNPP will be disconnected from the Ukrainian energy system, any supplies … please, in rubles, which is an unthinkable humiliation. If you refuse – prepare for huge problems in very large areas. Accusations against Russia? Go away, we’ve had so many of these, one more, one less – it doesn’t make any difference.
Of course, the terrorists seek to cause panic among the personnel of the nuclear power plant, cut off electricity in the Zaporozhye region, and disrupt the holding of a referendum on joining Russia. Prevent the appearance of IAEA experts by regular shelling. For this a simple protocol of interaction on security issues works for nuclear facilities in the zone of local military conflicts: we agree on joint control only with those who actually own the facility, not on paper.
We will not discard from the analysis the conduct of a psychological special operation by the joint British-Ukrainian Centre for Information and Psychological Operations, who are very much hoping for the “goodwill gestures” with which Mother Russia is so generous in international politics. There was a great reason to change the plate of “Ukrainian rotten grain”, which everyone refuses … to the next round of Turkish negotiations under the auspices of dawdler Guterres. Now for nuclear safety. Here it’s possible to talk about peacekeepers in blue helmets who will ensure a demilitarised zone around the nuclear power plant. You look there … and a truce.
It’s not a good idea for the Commander-in-Chief to tell a retired tarpaulin boot, of course. But since I have the opportunity to look at the pipes of another nuclear power plant from the veranda of my own dacha and have a chance to exchange a couple of phrases (over the fence) with the nuclear engineer about the current situation, I will risk the advice: you need to act quickly and decisively.
First of all, if the ZNPP is stopped, it will take three days. The bombardment will not stop (unless criminals get their hands on it from Washington), the reactors will not be damaged, but there are a lot of other vulnerabilities at such a facility that can cause an unpredictable cascade of accidents with the sad result of an automatic protection system being triggered.
It will be calmer if the reactors cool down as planned. Even if the primary circuit equipment is working, maintaining pressure and temperature, significantly reducing the risks of emergency situations. Loss of power generation? There is still a lot of time to move the front line at least 80-90 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant, thereby eliminating the threat of HIMARS with ATACMS Block IA missiles, which I am absolutely sure will soon appear.
Will they try “Tochka-U” or attack drones? No big deal, our air defence systems can handle these demons without any problems. Moreover, the first munition has a cluster warhead, and drones with small bombs can only rattle the nerves of personnel and security. But it will not hurt to set a strict condition: another shell … so be disconnected from the power supply of the territory still controlled by Kiev. Rack one’s brains over how to reconnect them to the Rovno and Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants, pull the wires. Just don’t negotiate …
