The cooling tower of the Zaporizhzhya NPP completely burned out from the inside after the attack on the station, told TASS Director of Communications at Zaporizhzhya NPP Evgeniya Yashina, specifying that there is no threat of collapse. She noted that although the fire did not affect the operation of the station, “a fire at a cooling tower is a direct violation of the integrity of the station.”
A fire broke out in the area of the cooling towers responsible for cooling water at the Zaporizhzhya NPP on the evening of August 11, reported the Zaporizhzhya NPP press service on the station’s Telegram channel. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) heard the sounds of explosions and saw thick dark smoke in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, it is said in a statement published on the IAEA website.
In Rosatom toldthat Ukrainian drones carried out two strikes on one of the two cooling towers of the Zaporizhzhya NPP. This happened at 20:20 and 20:32 Moscow time, TASS reports. The Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Zaporizhzhya region later clarifiedthat the non-functioning cooling tower No. 1 was damaged, and plastic steam traps caught fire. At 23:20, the press service of Zaporizhzhya NPP reported on the localization of the fire and excluded the threat of further burning. Rosatom added that the main fire was extinguished at 23:30 Moscow time. As a result of the incident, no one was hurt, the Ministry of Emergency Situations assured.
According to preliminary data, the drone was launched from the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which is located on the right bank of the Dnieper, told Vladimir Rogov, head of the Zaporizhzhya public movement “We are together with Russia”, co-chairman of the coordinating council for the integration of “new regions”* under the Public Chamber of Russia, in his Telegram channel. He called the attack on the Zaporizhzhya NPP “targeted and deliberate”.
On the evening of August 11, Yashin told TASS statedthat the station had suffered such serious damage for the first time in all the shelling and attacks. Rosatom named which occurred as an act of nuclear terrorism on the part of Kyiv, TASS reports.
The Zaporizhzhya NPP emphasized that the fire did not affect the operation of the station: all six units, as before, are not operating and are in a “cold shutdown” state, and the radiation background at the Zaporizhzhya NPP site is normal. This information confirmed IAEA. The agency said in a statement that the drone strike on the Zaporizhzhya NPP did not affect the nuclear safety of the facility. However, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called for an end to the attacks on the Zaporizhzhya NPP, as they “jeopardize nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident.”
The Zaporizhzhya NPP has two cooling towers, they are located on the northern side of the cooling pond – outside the perimeter of the Zaporizhzhya NPP. “The cooling towers are used when the plant is operating at capacity. Their damage does not have a direct impact on the safety of the six shut-down units. However, any fire on the site or in its vicinity poses a risk of spreading the fire to objects that are important for safety,” the IAEA explained. They added that, according to Zaporizhzhya NPP data and the results of an independent IAEA audit, the radiation level in the area of the plant remained unchanged.
There is also no danger to Energodar and the entire Zaporizhia region in connection with the fire at the Zaporizhia NPP reported and Governor Yevgeny Balitsky. He wrote on his Telegram channel that “a number of decisions were made that today allow us to work safely in the Zaporizhia region and promptly eliminate all the difficulties created for us by the enemy.” According to Balitsky, on the instructions of Vladimir Putin, vigilance and attention to strategic infrastructure facilities, including the Zaporizhia NPP, were increased in the Zaporizhia region.
Zaporizhzhya NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe by installed capacity. Russian Ministry of Defense stated about taking control of it on February 28, 2022. In February 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry. Among those subject to restrictions were Rosatom, its subsidiaries, and the Zaporizhzhya NPP Federal State Unitary Enterprise, created on the orders of Vladimir Putin in October 2022.
According to data On the Zaporizhzhya NPP website, the reactor unit of block No. 5 is the only one in the “hot shutdown” state. All six blocks are in reserve and undergoing medium repairs, and the reactor units of five blocks are in the “cold shutdown” or “repair shutdown” state. No disruptions in the NPP’s operation have been recorded, the website says.
* The Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions became part of Russia following referendums in September 2022, held six months after the start of Russia’s “special operation”** in Ukraine. Ukraine, the United States and the EU countries did not recognize the results of these referendums.
** According to the requirement of Roskomnadzor, when preparing materials about a special operation in eastern Ukraine, all Russian media are required to use information only from official Russian sources. We cannot publish materials in which the operation being carried out is called an “attack”, “invasion” or “declaration of war”, unless this is a direct quote (Article 57 of the Federal Law on Mass Media). In case of violation of the requirement, the media may be fined 5 million rubles, and the publication may also be blocked.
