Russia Says Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant May Shut Down if Shelling Continues

20 thoughts on “Russia Says Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant May Shut Down if Shelling Continues”

1. Well. That takes care of that. By shutting down the plant, Russia eliminates the threat of a melt down. The reactor feeds can be moved out of reach from Russia’s enemies. Continued shelling of the infrastructure assures only that the plan will never be reopened. So, the shield the complex provided from Ukrainian artillery remains largely intact.
   I imagine that the IAEA would have made the same recommendation.

   1. No ‘China Syndrome’?…

   2. Here’s a better solution. Demilitarize that site, Russia pulls out of there and millions of Ukrainians can continue receiving electricity service uninterrupted.
      But we know Russia’s plan. To make people suffer and freeze over the winter then re direct service to the land he is stealing.
      And you guys are here cheering for that. Pretty Sick.

      1. No one is “cheering for that”. It must be exciting to be a psychic with access to Russia’s plan!

         1. That’s is the plan. Just like when Putin invaded Ukraine. He told us he would not invade but everyone knew he would.
            Remember the Donbas to Crimea corridor plan the Kremlin labeled a western fabricated lie? Hmm, turns out, it was true. We knew Putin’s plan all along.
            But… Keep on cheering on your master.

2. Good. Shut it down. Zelensky continues to cut off his nose to spite his face. What’s this going to do to his proposal to “provide the EU with electric power”??? At this rate, he’ll be lucky to keep the lights on in Kiev – of course, maybe, just “maybe”, he’ll convince Biden to go along with his proposal that the US provide enough “free” natural gas to power his country for two full years.

   1. Another one cheering for millions of Ukrainians to be left without power. It’s their power plant. Not Putin’s.

      1. If they are left without power it’s because Zelensky is shelling it
         Put the blame where it belongs
         Zelensky could care less what happens to his people as long as he stays relevant in the western press
         Where’s he going for his next fashion photo shoot?
         Besides if you look back at who built it you’ll find it’s a Soviet era Install; Ukraine as a nation cant actually “build” anything –

         1. When the soviet collapsed, countries were told to keep everything minus the nukes. Then the Budapest Memorandum was signed. Russia broke that agreement when it took Crimea.
            I cannot reason with you. You have already picked your side.
            So let me make your Friday.
            Glory to Emperor Putin and hell with Ukraine!!!

            1. Actually, you are the one that has “picked a side” and can’t be reasoned with. I am not getting into the “morality” of who is responsible for what; simply making the points that 1. Russia controls the site, but has been allowing the site to function, providing power to, as you put it “millions of Ukrainians”, 2. Ukraine is shelling the facility, creating what the IAEA considers a grave risk of a nuclear accident, 3. Ukraine has to date refused to accept responsibility for that, and is impeding IAEA inspector access, which should really be dealing with the Russians only, as Russia controls the site, and 4. in response to 1-3 above, Russia is considering shutting the plant down, and removing the nuclear material to russia, where it will be reprocessed and reused in Russian facilities, leaving, again, “millions of Ukrainians” in the dark.
               So, if “millions of Ukrainians” without power is a concern for Zelensky, as it should be (but apparently is not), then he needs to 1. Stop shelling the facility, and 2. encourage the IAEA to visit the site directly, by traveling through Russian controlled territory. Anything else is stupid, and the impact on his people will be his (Zelensky’s) fault.
               That’s just reality; your constant, “but, but, Budapest, but, Putin bad” harping is beside the point.

            2. Putin lover til the end.

            3. Awww shucks. That’s sweet.

            4. Yep señor Julio has no actual argument as usual. But he is a psychic!

            5. Spot on.

3. By most experts’ analysis, Ukraine can’t seriously damage the plant in any event. It’s built to Soviet nuclear war standards. The only real threat is damage to the cooling systems which of course would complicate controlling a meltdown. It’s also possible that the spent fuel containment facility might be breached, but even that is considered unlikely. This is mostly another Ukrainian PR effort to keep the West sending money to Ukraine.

   The UN is unreliable. They insist that any inspection be permitted by the Ukrainians, and the Ukrainians won’t unless Russia leaves the entire area.. I see no reason why the UN can’t go directly to Russia for permission since Russia controls the area except the UN’s own political bias against Russia.

   1. That’s exactly it. The US and our lackies won’t allow any direct dealing with Russia that excludes Ukraine; but since Ukraine doesn’t control the facility, it’s hardly Ukraine’s call to make. But like the grain deal, and the civilian shields used under the steel plant in Mariupol; it is Zelensky and his cronies that are benefitted by expanded human suffering, and they will do nothing to alleviate it, because they see disasters as “helping” their cause – even though it is their own people bearing the brunt of it.

      1. Do you even speak Spanish or your name is just an avatar one? You talk like Venezuelan soldiers in Minsk when doing training in Belarus. They just go with the flow.

         1. Sleep tight sweetheart.

4. Here is the Russian view of the situation, copied from a post at MoA.

   The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is analyzing the
   development of the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

   Since July 18, 2022, the station has been subjected to systematic
   shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine from multiple rocket launchers,
   barrel artillery and using unmanned aerial vehicles.

   As of August 18, 2022, 12 attacks were carried out, during which more
   than 50 artillery shell explosions and 5 kamikaze drones were recorded
   on the territory of the NPP and the city of Energodar.

   The Russian Defense Ministry conducted an investigation and found that the strikes were carried out from the direction of the settlements of
   Manganese and Nikopol.

   As a result of the shelling, the auxiliary support systems of the
   station were damaged, as well as the life support facilities of the city
   of Energodar.

   According to the Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian side, together
   with their curators from the United States, is trying to play the card,
   causing, in their opinion, a minor accident at the nuclear power plant
   and thereby disrupting the normal and safe operation of the nuclear
   power plant, blaming Russia for this.

   The Ukrainian side has repeatedly stated that the strikes on the
   plant are carried out by the Armed Forces of Russia, and Russian heavy
   weapons are placed on the territory of the NPP, from which shelling is
   carried out on the objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

   We are ready to present to the IAEA real pictures with very high
   resolution, the sample is placed on a slide, which shows that we do not
   place weapons, especially heavy ones, on the territory of this station.
   The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation said this to UN
   Secretary-General Guterres.

   We know that in the presence of a large number of military and
   commercial foreign satellites, the same information can be presented to
   the world community by the American side.

   At the same time, the United States suppresses objective data on the
   shelling and the situation at the nuclear power plant, thereby
   encouraging the impunity of the Kiev regime and contributing to the
   possible development of a nuclear catastrophe in Europe.

   It is no coincidence that the conclusions of specialists of the
   American Agency for Arms Control and Disarmament (Washington, DC) and a number of other similar institutions of Western countries, and not the IAEA, which has the right to such conclusions, are widely quoted in the media that the occurrence of a large-scale disaster at the NPP seems unlikely.

   In their opinion, the thickness of the concrete shelters of its
   nuclear reactors is 10 meters, in addition, the station was designed and
   built taking into account the need to overcome the consequences of
   incidents such as the fall of a civilian aircraft.

   At the same time, it is not excluded that a direct hit of large–caliber artillery shells into the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel will lead to radioactive contamination of the area within a radius of up to 20 km, and an emergency situation at a nuclear reactor is up to 30 km maximum. At the same time, it is emphasized that the risks of radiation
   spreading on the territory of European countries are assessed as minimal.

   Thus, according to American experts, the consequences of the nuclear
   incident at the Zaporozhye NPP will be limited and will not affect the
   territory of European countries.

   I would like to remind the UN Secretariat and the entire world
   community that the principal cause of the accidents at the Chernobyl
   plant and the Fukushima nuclear power plant, despite the fact that in
   the first case there were experiments with a nuclear reactor, and in the
   second case – an earthquake and tsunami, is the failure of supply
   systems, disruption of power supply, partial and complete de–energization cooling systems, which led to overheating of the nuclear fuel and destruction of the reactor.

   As a result of the Chernobyl disaster, the territory of more than 20
   European countries was contaminated with radioactive isotopes. About 4 thousand people died from direct exposure to radiation, tens of thousands of cases of genetic deformities in newborns and hundreds of
   thousands of oncological diseases were recorded. Not counting the
   consequences of forced evacuation, up to 100 thousand people and more
   than 5.5 million people received an increased dose of radiation.

   At the Fukushima nuclear power plant, only at first glance it may
   seem that the consequences are insignificant. Up to 500 thousand people were subjected to gradual forced evacuation, and descendants will feel the consequences of dumping radioactive water into the ocean.

   One gets the feeling that this has been forgotten.

   According to our experts, due to the actions of the Armed Forces of
   Ukraine, a similar situation may arise at the Zaporozhye NPP.

   Thus, in case of failure of backup diesel generators and mobile
   pumps, in case of an emergency, the core will overheat and, as a result,
   the destruction of reactor installations at the largest nuclear power
   plant in Europe with the release of radioactive substances into the
   atmosphere and their spreading for hundreds of kilometers.

   Such an emergency situation will cause mass migration of the
   population and will have more catastrophic consequences than the
   impending gas energy crisis in Europe, which is confirmed by the
   forecast of a number of European specialized organizations.

   In addition, according to available information, as part of a trip to Ukraine from August 17 to 19, 2022, UN Secretary-General Guterres plans
   to visit the city of Odessa. By this date, the Armed Forces of Ukraine
   intend to stage a provocation of a man-made disaster at the Zaporozhye
   NPP, which consists in the leakage of radiation, destruction of the
   integrity of the nuclear waste storage and the withdrawal of the NPP
   reactor into a state of abnormal operation.

   All this, according to their plan, should be a consequence of the
   military actions of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of the
   nuclear power plant, the incompetence of Russian specialists involved in the operation of this nuclear facility.

   In order to stage the AFU, it is planned to deploy radiation monitoring posts to the compounds, military units and units stationed in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, which are part of the united group of
   forces “Dnepr”, to provide 100 percent of the military personnel with
   means of chemical and radiation protection, to conduct training on
   chemical and radiation protection and other security measures for the
   purpose of staging the AFU. In particular, the units of the 44th
   separate artillery brigade were ordered to be ready to act in conditions
   of radiation contamination of the area by August 19. In the same place,
   in the area of the Zaporozhye NPP, units of the 704th separate regiment
   of the RCB protection of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being
   transferred.

   Artillery strikes on the NPP are planned from the city quarters of the city of Nikopol.

   This “performance” will be accompanied by alerts to the population about the increase in radiation background and other “special effects”. The staging is carried out in the interests of influencing the UN Secretary General and the international community to cover up decisions beneficial to Kiev.

   The ultimate goal of the provocation is the creation of an exclusion
   zone of up to 30 km, the introduction of international forces and
   foreign observers into the territory of the NPP, as well as the
   accusation of the Russian Armed Forces of nuclear terrorism.

   As a conclusion from the above, we draw your attention to the fact
   that with the continuation of the negative development of the situation
   related to the shelling of the nuclear power plant by Ukraine, the issue
   of the withdrawal of 5 and 6 power units to the “cold reserve” may be
   considered, which will lead to the shutdown of the Zaporozhye NPP.

5. They probably should shut it down make it as safe as possible, hopefully the diesel backup pumps still have fuel.

Comments are closed.