Zaporozhye NPP maintains normal operation, its protection enhanced - authorities

MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which the Ukrainian forces have repeatedly tried to attack in recent days, maintains normal operation, and its protection has been enhanced, the chief of the Zaporozhye Region?s military-civilian administration, Yevgeny Baliltsky, said on Tuesday.

"Now the nuclear power plant has restored power lines and the substation, which was damaged. The units are safe, the station is operating in the normal mode. Its security has been enhanced, of course. I know that the military has put the issue under still greater control. Air defense systems will be strengthened to protect the station so that we can be at least relatively sure that nothing will reach there," Balitsky said on the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Ukraine?s army has repeatedly attacked the Zaporozhye NPP. On August 7, it was reported that the Ukrainian military continued to strike at the power plant?s territory, which is currently under the control of Russian forces. According to the military-civilian administration of Energodar, fragments of a rocket fired on the night of August 7 fell 400 meters away from an operating power unit. The day after the Ukrainian military bombarded the area thrice on August 5, a member of the chief council of the region?s military-civilian administration, Vladimir Rogov, told TASS that the Zaporozhye Region?s air defenses would be strengthened.

The Zaporozhye NPP is Europe?s biggest nuclear power plant. With a capacity of around 6,000 megawatt, it generated a fourth of Ukraine?s electricity. Since 1996, it was part of Ukraine?s Energoatom generating company. In March 2022, control over the nuclear plant came over to Russian forces. Now, the plant is operating at 70% of its capacity due to the oversupply of electricity on the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region. It is planned to supply electricity from the plant to Crimea. --0-- str