MELITOPOL, November 6. /TASS/. Some 3,500 employees are currently working at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power plant (ZNPP) in the city of Energodar, the region's Governor Yevgeny Balitsky told reporters at a press conference.
"There are about 3,000-3,500 people working at the plant now. For comparison: in a good mode, when it works in full, there are 11,500 employees. But today there are about 3,500 people who ensure its viability, its safety," Balitsky said.
According to the governor, the ZNPP now works in self-supply mode and does not supply electricity to external consumers. "To supply the plant itself, we need from 30 to 80 MW, and accordingly, this is what it consumes by generating itself. It maintains its mode of operation," the governor pointed out.
Balitsky added that the Ukrainian military had destroyed all the supporting communications, substations and high-voltage lines around the plant, so there was no point in restarting the power units in normal mode. He emphasized that there are enough sources of electricity in the Zaporozhye Region to do without the capacity of a nuclear power plant.
In recent months, Energodar has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian drones. On November 2, despite the Ukrainian drone attack, the Russian military ensured the safe rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) observers at the ZNPP. The mission consists of four inspectors whose task is to monitor and assess the safety condition of the plant.
The ZNPP, located in Energodar, has six power units with a total capacity of 6 GW. It is Europe‘s largest nuclear power generating facility. At the end of February 2022, the facility was taken over by Russian forces. Since then, Ukrainian army units have periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the plant itself using drones, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers.