MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. Russia would like to keep the personnel currently working at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as intact as possible, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to Rosenergoatom’s CEO, said in an interview with TASS. As of today, more than 3,000 employees are under contract with the company that operates the plant, he added.

Earlier, Karchaa told TASS that by the end of April, the plant’s staff will expand by another 1,200 people.

"Hiring new employees is possible. Our talent pool is significant and diverse in all areas of expertise. But our main course remains unchanged - to preserve as much as possible the team that was formed at the plant before it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. This is not rhetoric, this is part of our corporate ideology. We proclaimed it and we will consistently follow it, no matter how hard it is," he stressed.

According to the Rosenergoatom official, under Russian standards, about 5,000-6,000 people are needed to operate the plant.

"As for the number of plant personnel under Russian standards, the Zaporozhye NPP needs 5,000-6,000 employees, taking into account the work of all six units," he said.

Zaporozhye NPP

The Zaporozhye NPP, located in Energodar, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The total capacity of its six reactors is about 6,000 megawatts. In late February 2022, the facility was taken under control by Russian forces. Since then, the Ukrainian military has been periodically bombarding both Energodar’s residential neighborhoods and the premises of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. Most of the attacks have been repelled by air defenses, but on several occasions shells have been recorded hitting the plant’s infrastructure and the dry cask storage area. Engineering structures are being erected at the Zaporozhye NPP to shield the facility, acting much like "airbags."

Two energy units of the Zaporozhye NPP have been put into "hot shutdown," or low-power operation, thus supplying heat to Energodar. Two more units have entered a so-called state of "cold shutdown," while the remaining two units are undergoing repairs. The only power line that transmits electricity to the plant from Ukraine is in operation.