MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. The recent events involving the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant are fraught with additional risks, for they create a false impression of the admissibility of strikes against nuclear power plants without catastrophic consequences, Alexander Uvarov, the director of the Atominfo Center and editor-in-chief of the atominfo.ru resource, has told TASS.

The NPP’s cooling tower is needed to remove from the nuclear plant the part of heat generated in the reactor that cannot be utilized. Although the cooling tower is not part of the nuclear reactor and there have been no violations of the standards and conditions of the ZNPP’s safe operation, the expert emphasized, it was too early to feel calm.

"In my opinion, we are now seeing a shift of the Overton window. People are being accustomed to the fact that it is possible to fire at a nuclear plant without triggering catastrophic consequences. This impression is wrong. I totally support the latest statement by IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, who called the attacks on the ZNPP reckless and urged an immediate stop to them," Uvarov said.

On August 11, at 8:20 p.m. Moscow time (5:20 p.m. GMT) and 8:32 p.m. (5:32 p.m. GMT), there were two direct strikes by Ukrainian UAVs on one of the two cooling towers at the Zaporozhye NPP, resulting in a fire. By 11:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. GMT) the main fire was extinguished by Emergency Ministry units. The fire did not affect the NPP's operation, as the plant is shut down and the attacked towers were not involved in the cooling process.