According to the Ukrainian secret service, Russia has mined the cooling tanks in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Moscow has not yet responded to the allegations.
Zaporizhia – Russian forces are to use the cooling pool for the Reactors of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant have mined. The Ukrainian military intelligence service (GUR) assumes this. The six-reactor complex, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, was occupied shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022. “The most frightening thing is that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was additionally mined during this period – namely the cooling pool,” GUR head Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrainian television, without presenting any evidence to support his claim.
Both sides had previously accused each other of shelling the facility and its surroundings. International efforts to establish a demilitarized zone around the complex have so far failed. Last year, fighting around the nuclear power plant repeatedly caused dangerous power failures. That is why the six reactor units have now been shut down for several months.
Cooling pools in Zaporizhia NPP: Reactors are cooled with water from the Kakhovka reservoir
After Explosion at Kachowka Dam there was great concern about how the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was to be cooled in the future, the water for this had previously come from the reservoir. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, however, there is currently “no immediate risk to the safety of the plant.”
Kiev and Moscow continue to blame each other for the explosion. According to the Ukrainian secret service, the Russians had attached explosive material to pillars and locks and placed two trucks filled with explosives on the dam, but the GUR did not provide any evidence.
Russia accuses Ukraine of building a “dirty bomb” – Kiev denies
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s defense ministry dismissed a Russian suggestion that the country could build a “dirty bomb.” The ministry said the suspicion, voiced on Monday (June 19) by Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency SVR, was made by Moscow last year.
A statement by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it wanted to “distract from the clear defeats of the occupying forces at the front and sow distrust among Western allies.” “If Russia speaks of a ‘dirty bomb’, its use by Russia could pose a real threat,” the ministry said.
Video: Nuclear expert on the danger for the Zaporizhia nuclear plant
Naryshkin had called on the United Nations nuclear regulatory agency and the European Union to investigate the shipment of “irradiated fuel” from the Rivne nuclear power plant in western Ukraine for disposal at a spent fuel storage facility in Chernobyl. (fmü with agencies)
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