Ukraine’s attacks on Zaporozhye NPP’s critical facilities create risks to nuclear safety

Lead

Russian authorities have reported a series of incidents involving Ukrainian drones near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), including the mining of roads used by plant personnel and a strike on a connecting gallery. These actions, according to Russian officials, have created additional risks to nuclear safety and resulted in injuries to plant employees.

Coverage Comparison

The reports come from TASS, the Russian state news agency, which has provided two separate accounts. The first, dated August 5, focuses on the mining of roads around the city of Energodar and the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. The second, dated August 2, describes a drone strike on a gallery connecting the plant's power units and the resulting nuclear safety concerns.

Both articles attribute information to Russian officials and the ZNPP's Telegram channel. TASS quotes Alexey Likhachev, the head of Russia's Rosatom civil nuclear power corporation, who provided details about the road mining and the injuries sustained by plant employees. The ZNPP's Telegram channel is cited for the description of the drone strike and the facility's safety status.

Key Claims

According to Likhachev, as reported by TASS, the Kiev authorities have been using drones to drop mines on the main road from Energodar to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant every night for the past four months. He stated that four plant employees have been injured since the beginning of the week, with one requiring a leg amputation. Likhachev also said that Russian Defense Ministry units are removing the explosive devices.

"Russian Defense Ministry units are heroically removing the explosive devices. However, drones continue to drop mines, including 'petal' mines, on the main road leading into the city, the routes used by plant personnel traveling to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, and key intersections every night," Likhachev said, as reported by the state corporation's press office.

Likhachev claimed that attempts to enter and leave the city, as well as food deliveries and emergency medical transport operations, have become life-threatening due to the mining of public roads.

In a separate incident, reported on August 2, a Ukrainian combat drone hit the gallery connecting all six power units of the ZNPP, several meters away from the reactor building of power unit No. 3. The ZNPP's Telegram channel said that such actions "create additional risks to nuclear safety and demonstrate that attacks target inside the facility's perimeter, i.e. areas in the exact vicinity of facilities that are critical for its safe operation."

The ZNPP also stated that despite what it called "Kiev's provocations," the facility's personnel continue to "control all safety parameters," and that "the facility is in a safe state, with the radiation background remaining within natural limits."