3 Nov 2022 12:05

Zaporozhye NPP stops supplying heating to Energodar due to power outage on Ukrainian side

MOSCOW. Nov 3 (Interfax) - Ukrainian authorities have stopped power supply to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, rendering partially launched power units shut down and heating supply to Energodar ceased, Rosenergoatom general director's adviser Renat Karchaa said.

"They failed to stage a terrorist attack. They took another path, just shutting down two lines that supplied power to the power units. As a result of these actions we now have to cool the reactors, using so to speak 'veins,' diesel generators, and now heating supply to buildings will have to be delayed [...] According to tentative information, they most likely shut down these lines, using what we call a master switch," Karchaa said on Rossiya-24 (VGTRK) television channel.

The launch and operation of the power units require stable power supply, he said.

In the early hours of Thursday, Ukrainian authorities shut down the networks, accusing Russian troops of shelling power lines, Karchaa said. "They shut down these lines when there were zeros on the clock, that is midnight. The Russian side returned the strike at 00:05 a.m. as part of counterfire activities. Therefore, all their allegations that the shutdown was the Russian side's fault are a lie, from beginning to end," Karchaa said.

Earlier he said that the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant started to supply heat to Energodar's residential buildings. "Two power units, the fifth and the sixth, were put from the main condition to the so-called hot halt [...], which means the temperature of the power units made it possible to generate thermal energy, not electrical power, which [...] was supplied to houses of Energodar residents," Karchaa said.