MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. The authorities of Energodar, where the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is located, hope that the plant would come under the patronage of the Russian civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom, Alexander Volga, the head of Energodar’s military-civilian administration, told TASS.
"We have a very complicated situation at the moment; this facility is of a very peculiar importance, and it is not simple to hand over the control over this facility to a third party," he said.
"The situation is currently managed by the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency] and the plant is de-jure under control of the Energoatom company [controlled by Ukraine], but the NPP is located on our territory, we are maintaining it, the staff of the plant resides on the territory of our city and there are expectations that it [the plant] would come under the patronage of Rosatom," Volga said.
According to him, a commission from Rosatom is currently at the site of the nuclear power plant.
Volga also said that "an IAEA commission had already paid a visit and everyone is anticipating for the organization to pay another visit."
It was reported earlier in the month that three Ukrainian kamikaze drones had struck the premises of the Zaporozhye NPP in Energodar. The nuclear power plant’s reactors were undamaged and the radiation background was normal. Eleven staffers of the Zaporozhye NPP were wounded in the drone attack, with four of them in severe condition.
The Zaporozhye NPP is the largest in Europe and has a capacity of about 6,000 MW. It used to generate a quarter of all electric power in Ukraine. The Zaporozhye NPP consists of six power units and from 1996 it operated as a detached unit of the Energoatom national nuclear power generating company controlled by Kiev.
In March 2022, the Zaporozhye NPP was placed under the Russian army’s control. Currently, the NPP operates at 70% capacity as the area of the Zaporozhye Region liberated from the Ukrainian army has a surplus of electricity power. There were also voiced plans to direct part of electricity generated at the Zaporozhye NPP to Crimea.