MELITOPOL, May 9. /TASS/. The situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is "stably tense," but there have been no changes in its operation, as the energy units are functioning as before, Renat Karchaa, advisor to the CEO of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power plant operator, told TASS on Tuesday.

"Any decisions on the operation of reactors in the nuclear power industry have always been and will always be made exclusively by the management of the operating company and the nuclear plant in an impartial and professional manner depending on the situation. There have been no changes in the operation of the plant recently. The plant’s staff are doing their best to ensure nuclear safety," he said.

Karchaa stressed that the two energy units at the Zaporozhye NPP are still undergoing repairs, three more units had entered a so-called state of ‘cold shutdown’ and one more had been put into ‘hot shutdown,’ or low-power operation.

According to the advisor, the situation at the plant is "stably tense," as the Ukrainian armed forces are still pounding Energodar using artillery, but the shells land "at a distance from the plant."

"There have been neither provocations nor strikes from the Ukrainian armed forces in recent days," he added.

On May 5, Acting Governor of the Zaporozhye Region Yevgeny Balitsky said that residents of 18 settlements would be temporarily relocated to safer places due to intensified shelling by Ukrainian troops. Andrey Kozenko, the region’s deputy prime minister, told TASS that around 70,000 people are to be evacuated. The evacuation is voluntary, he stressed.

Afterwards, Karchaa told TASS that Zaporozhye NPP employees were working as usual after the decision to relocate people from the settlements in the Zaporozhye Region suffering from shelling attacks.