ENERGODAR /Zaporozhye Region/, June 16. /TASS/. The fifth reactor of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) does not require a cold shutdown, said an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, Renat Karchaa.

A cold shutdown implies that a reactor is not producing a measurable amount of electricity or heat. A reactor in the state of a hot shutdown continues to generate heat, but not electricity. Earlier, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine ordered to put the plant’s Unit 5 in cold shutdown, ignoring the fact that Ukraine had lost control over the facility.

"Currently, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is not running at its full capacity. As you know, two reactors are undergoing repairs, three are in cold shutdown and one is in hot shutdown," Karchaa said. "The Ukrainian regime <…> still has an illusion of control over the process here. They started to demand that Unit 5 be put into cold shutdown, too. These demands cannot be justified from legal or technological point of view. This is nonsense, at the very vest. There is no need to do this."

Karchaa explained that steam and heat, generated by Unit 5, are required for maintaining the facility.

"A hot shutdown allows generating heat and steam, which are necessary for keeping a wide range of technological elements in operation," the official said.

Located in the city of Energodar, Europe’s largest Zaporozhye NPP has six power units with an aggregate capacity of 6 GW. Russian forces took control of the facility in February 2022.

On October 3, 2022, Rosenergoatom established the Zaporozhye NPP Operating Organization company, and on October 5 the Zaporozhye NPP facilities were placed under the ownership of the Russian federal government by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Three days later, on behalf of the head of state, the government created the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant Federal State Unitary Enterprise, which is headquartered in Moscow.