The Zaporizhia NPP (ZNPP) reported on its Telegram channel that since 12 September more than 10 drone attacks have taken place on the ZNPP training centre. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties and the extent of the damage is being determined.
The training and education centre provides personnel training and exercises, including practice in handling non‑standard and emergency situations. This is part of the plant safety system enabling specialists to regularly maintain their skills. “Therefore, attacks on a facility related to the training of nuclear personnel are attacks not only on the infrastructure but also on one of the elements of the nuclear safety system. The situation at the plant is under control. Operational safety is ensured. The radiation background is within the normal range,” the statement says. Evgenia Yashina, Director of Communications at the ZNPP later told TASS that, as a result of shelling, the roof of the transport workshop and several buses used to transport personnel were damaged.
Russian media reports also described combined attacks on fuel tankers that were delivering diesel fuel ZNPP for the backup generators. Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev told reporters that, as a result of the attack, two Russian military personnel were killed and several others were injured, some seriously. The strikes were carried out in close proximity to the perimeter of the plant site. He said Rosatom is expecting a response from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to this event as an accident at ZNPP “threatens to have unpredictable consequences, and not only for the surrounding regions”.
Diesel fuel is necessary to ensure the operation of the ZNPP backup diesel generators in the event of a loss of external power supply. In August–September, the plant was without external power supply for almost three weeks and operated using diesel fuel, depleting the plant’s reserves.
The permanent representative of the Russian Federation to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, stated that the situation around ZNPP is rapidly escalating.
