"Peaceful Atom" in a War Zone: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), has found itself at risk as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This poses a serious risk to all of Europe. The plant was occupied by Russian troops shortly after the war began. They entered the city of Enerhodar and seized the plant on the 10th day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – March 4, 2022. Some troops entered the city, others the plant.
How to recalls On that day, one Enerhodar resident, Anna (name changed at her request), recalled that several days before the invasion of the city, columns of Russian tanks were on every road. They were stationed in villages, but there was no fighting. They were escalating the situation, pretending to point their weapons toward the nuclear power plant. Residents of Enerhodar began setting up a checkpoint out of tires and sandbags. There were no troops left in the city itself, only National Guard soldiers guarding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, who were killed when Russian troops entered Enerhodar.
"In the city, some Russians went straight to the mayor's office, while most went to the power plant. The nuclear power plant was defended by National Guard troops and departmental security. I'm not an expert to say how much the occupiers' forces outnumbered ours. After a while, the Russians opened fire on the power plant. They entered the training center building and blocked firefighters from entering for several hours. It was late at night when we learned that the Russian 'Kadyrovites' had fired on Unit 1. I think that was the point of no return. They couldn't care less where they fired, and no one considered the consequences. Our forces decided to end the battle to prevent a catastrophe. Until the very end, no one could believe that these idiots would bomb the largest nuclear power plant in Europe," Anna recalls.
Anna was able to leave the city, but she says she was scared when Russian troops started shooting at the nuclear unit.
History of the station
The decision to build several nuclear power plants in Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia NPP, was made by the USSR Council of Ministers in 1978. The Zaporizhzhia NPP project was approved in 1980. The first phase of construction included four power units with VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors, with a total plant capacity of 4000 MW. The foundation of the reactor compartment of the first power unit was laid on April 1, 1981, and reactor installation began by the end of 1982. The launch of the first power unit took place on November 9, 1984. The second, third, and fourth units were commissioned in 1985, 1986, and 1987.
In 1988, a project to build two additional power units with similar reactors was approved; Unit 5 was commissioned in 1989. However, a year later, work on the final unit, Unit 6, was frozen due to a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear facilities. The decision was made out of fears of a repeat of the Chernobyl accident. Four years later, the moratorium was lifted—the collapse of the USSR, the deteriorating economy, harsh winters, and growing demand for electricity forced the Ukrainian leadership to resume construction. Unit 6 of the Zaporizhzhya NPP was connected to the grid in 1995. After the collapse of the USSR, the nuclear power plant served as a spent fuel storage facility.
Before the war between Russia and Ukraine, there had been only two power unit shutdowns at the plant. In November and December 2014, power units three and six were shut down. The first time, this occurred due to damage to the winding of a voltage transformer in the power supply section. The second time, the power unit was restarted that same evening.
As of early 2023, the Zaporizhzhya NPP is not generating electricity, but two reactors are in "hot shutdown" mode, providing steam and heat to the plant and the nearby town of Energodar. Around 500 Russian military personnel remain stationed at the plant, and military equipment is also stationed on the premises. This was most recently confirmed by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who опубликовал A post on his Telegram channel about the Chechen units guarding the Zaporizhzhya NPP.
All this time, the IAEA has been actively advocating for the creation of a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhya NPP. But Russia refuses, and at the same time, it is not allowing experts to inspect the entire plant.
The war continues. Under these conditions, the Zaporizhzhya NPP remains a risk zone, the scale of which is difficult to even estimate.