If necessary, the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation will decide to shut down generating unit No 6 of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (NPP), the only one operating at the moment, the inspectorate's acting head, Oleh Korikov, has said, according to Suspilne.
The plant is disconnected from Ukraine's external power grid.
"The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant generates electricity for its own needs on its own to power all necessary technological systems, safety systems, in order to ensure the viability of the nuclear power plant equipment. This is the design mode, but a further deterioration of the situation will force us to operate standby diesel power plants in order to provide electrical power to our security systems," Korikov explained.
It is very difficult to replenish reserves of diesel fuel in wartime - four cisterns a day are needed. It's hard to get them across the front line.
"We could potentially find ourselves in a situation where we run out of diesel and this could lead to an accident with damage to the reactor core and consequently release of radioactive products into the environment," Korikov said.
On 5 September, a fire caused by Russian shelling caused a shutdown of the last line that connected the Zaporizhzhya NPP/Zaproizhzhya TPP node to the Ukrainian power system. Therefore, it was necessary to unload and de-energise unit No 6, which now feeds the nuclear power plant's own needs.
On 3 September, only unit No 6 at the Zaporizhzhya NPP remained in operation.