Zaporizhzhia NPP lacks qualified and licensed personnel, as the Russians hire everyone. This is a very big threat to the equipment. Repairs and routine inspections are not carried out in full at ZNPP. This was reported by Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin on Radio NV, according to a UNN correspondent.
"The emergency situation there is constant. The situation at ZNPP has been deteriorating every day for more than two years of occupation. The main threat is the lack of cooling water. This is after the explosion of the Kakhovka reservoir. The lack of power lines. Today it is connected to two lines of the Ukrainian power grid. There have already been eight blockades at Zaporizhzhia NPP, when all the lines were damaged. At the same time, diesel generators remain in operation. Failure of diesel generators leads to an accident with melting of nuclear fuel and release of radioactive products from the reactors...", Kotin said.
Another threat is the lack of qualified and licensed personnel at ZNPP.
"Because of this lack of personnel, the Russians are hiring everyone to work at ZNPP to show the IAEA that all the positions that need to be filled are filled, but they are filled with absolutely unqualified personnel. This is a very big threat to the plant's equipment, and due to the incompetent actions of this personnel, equipment failures are constantly occurring and the situation with this equipment is deteriorating. Repairs are not carried out in full, and routine inspections are not carried out in full. The nuclear facility is very complex and there are many thousands of pieces of equipment that require regular inspections," Kotin said.
He reminded that a couple of days ago, the occupiers put the fourth power unit of ZNPP into a "cold shutdown".
Уперше з 2022 року: ЗАЕС перевела всі енергоблоки в "холодний зупин" - МАГАТЕ13.04.24, 20:10
"We still do not know why the occupiers did this. There is a fear that serious defects were found at the fourth power unit. Why did they put it into cold shutdown," Kotin said.
Addendum
Kotin statedthat the actions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are very restrained in terms of freeing the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant from the Russian Federation and transferring control to the Ukrainian side. The IAEA shows an inability to achieve this goal with the tools at their disposal.