Apparently after mortar fire: reactor of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant shut down

Shortly before the visit of a team of experts from the IAEA, the situation in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant remains precarious.

Apparently after mortar fire: reactor of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant shut down

Shortly before the visit of a team of experts from the IAEA, the situation in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant remains precarious. Because of a shelling at night, the operator claims to have activated emergency protection and shut down a reactor. According to Moscow, everything is under control.

According to the operator, a reactor at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian soldiers, had to be shut down after being shelled at night. "As a result of renewed mortar shelling by the Russian occupying forces at the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, emergency protection was activated and the fifth reactor in operation was shut down," the Ukrainian nuclear authority Enerhoatom said on its Telegram channel. A power line was also damaged, Enerhoatom said.

Reactor number six, which supplies the plant with the necessary electricity, is still in operation. The Zaporizhia NPP is located directly on the Dnipro River and consists of six pressurized water reactors. According to the information, the shelling took place in the early morning at just before 5 a.m. local time.

According to the announcement, this is the second time in ten days that "criminal actions" have led to the shutdown. "The station's Ukrainian staff is doing everything possible to repair damage to its infrastructure," it said.

The information cannot be verified independently. According to Russian news agencies, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said the situation around the nuclear power plant was difficult but under control.

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, with six reactors, has been occupied by Russian troops since the beginning of March. In the past few weeks, there have been repeated attacks on and around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, for which Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other. The shelling feeds fears that Zaporizhia could experience a nuclear disaster similar to that in 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union.

IAEA chief Rafael Grassi arrived in Zaporizhia on Wednesday with his team of inspectors to check the situation in the nuclear power plant on Thursday. The city of Zaporizhia is normally only a two-hour drive from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, but the IAEA convoy has to cross Russian-occupied territories on the way.