MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Threats to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant’s (ZNPP) nuclear safety stemming from the Kiev regime’s actions are abnormal and require nonstandard measures of protection, including from possible seizure attempts, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, said on Tuesday.

"This situation is abnormal, no one doubts this. A new history of nuclear power engineering is being written at the ZNPP today, because there are no regulations for a case of artillery strikes on nuclear facilities. There has never been anything of the kind, <…> no one dared to threaten the physical integrity of a nuclear facility. So, different measures of protection, including nonstandard, are being taken," he said in an interview with the Radio Rossii radio station, commenting on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) statement that antipersonnel mines had been spotted outside the site perimeter.

According to the expert, mines along the plant’s protective perimeter are no threat to its personnel. "This is a buffer zone where personnel have no access, hence, there is no threat to the lives and health of the personnel. I would like to repeat, I was not there during the inspection, but I think this could be about measures to prevent possible seizure attempts. This threat is quite real," Karchaa noted.

He characterized the IAEA’s position on this matter as well-balanced. "[IAEA chief Rafael] Grossi and IAEA inspectors cannot but see and report the Kiev regime’s rather aggressive intentions, that is why their reaction was quite well-balanced, I think. They noted that what they saw has no influence on the ZNPP’s operation, its nuclear safety.

Grossi said on July 24 that the agency’s experts had "observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery" of the facility. The mines were seen in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers. The experts reported that the mines were in a restricted area that plant personnel cannot access. No mines were discovered within the site. He stressed that the presence of such mines is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance. According to Grossi, experts believe that the detonation of these mines will not affect the ZNPP’s nuclear safety.

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