A Dangerous Leak Occurred at the Russian-Occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP

An incident involving the leakage of reagents from the first reactor circuit to the second occurred at Unit 5 of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is currently under Russian control, the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom reports on Telegram.

As explained in the company, due to the incompetence of Russian personnel, in particular the shift supervisor of the chemical shop, who lost control over the saturation of special water treatment filters, the water of the first circuit with a boric acid solution began to get into the deaerator of the engine room, and from there again to all steam generators.

"The actions of the racists are absolutely incompetent," said Energoatom President Petro Kotin.

The incident with the leakage of reagents occurred as a result of the actions of the Russian occupiers to illegally put Zaporizhzhia NPP Unit 5 into a "hot" state.

According to Kotin, the occupiers' actions could lead to a loss of integrity of the steam generator tubes, which does not comply with the regulations for the safe operation of the power unit.

"By their actions, the invaders are once again jeopardising the safety of the plant's operation and causing constant degradation of equipment and the frequency of dangerous failures. And this can lead to an emergency at any time," Kotin stressed.

Moreover, similar manipulations are taking place with Unit 3.

In particular, there are attempts to take power unit No.3 out of repair and heat it up to a "hot" state in order to bring power unit No.5 to a "cold shutdown".

Energoatom reminded that due to the violation of licence conditions by the occupiers, a number of emergencies have already occurred at Zaporizhzhia NPP, the most recent of which was on 14 November 2023.

"In addition, the senseless decision of the current 'managers' of the plant to transfer it to a 'hot' state has led to a significant increase in liquid radioactive waste at the plant site, which poses potential harm to personnel, the public and the environment," Energoatom explained.

Later, Energoatom explained: "The fake management of ZNPP ordered the use of Russian-made oil for the backup diesel power plant, without taking into account that when heated, this oil begins to foam intensively. This leads to a decrease in system pressure and automatic shutdown of diesel generators."

According to Petro Kotin, President of Energoatom, such actions by Rosatom's "management" of ZNPP lead to degradation of equipment and systems important for the safety of the plant:

"This may provoke a failure of the most important safety equipment - diesel generators, with a subsequent nuclear and radiation accident," he said.

As a reminder, due to the incompetent actions of the Russian occupiers and Rosatom employees, a partial blackout occurred at Zaporizhzhia NPP on 14 November in the form of a power outage at Unit 6, after which diesel generators and safety systems were launched and operated for 90 minutes.

Earlier, a hazard was reported at power unit No.4. As a result of its heating, radioactive coolant (water) leaked from the first to the second circuit, which is a violation of one of the barriers to the spread of radioactive contamination.

A similar situation occurred during an attempt to heat up Unit 6.

Earlier it was reported, with reference to the head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU), Oleh Korikov, that the Russian occupiers intend to bring Zaporizhzhia NPP Unit 3 out of cold shutdown and repair shutdown in violation of the current licence of the Ukrainian regulator.

According to him, changing the state of the reactor units of both Unit 3 and previously Unit 4-5 is extremely dangerous.

According to the terms of the licences, all six power units at Zaporizhzhia NPP must be in a cold state without exception. In violation of the SNRIU licences, the occupiers switched power units 4 and 5 to a hot state, i.e. heated them up to their nominal parameters.

As previously reported by The Gaze, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia is the "only source of danger" to Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia NPP, and the world must be prepared to respond quickly to a potential disaster.

Ukrainian intelligence also reported that Russia had withdrawn some of the personnel from the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP in Ukraine and was actively spreading fake news about alleged "Ukrainian plans to attack the plant with drones". According to the intelligence community, this disinformation and psychological operation may serve to cover up Russia's real terrorist actions.