Moscow, July 25 (EFE).- The Russian operator of the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia Tuesday said it put a reactor into a hot shutdown mode for a scheduled technical inspection.
“In order to conduct a scheduled technical inspection of the equipment of power unit No. 5, the management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant decided to transfer it to the ‘cold shutdown,’ state,” the operator said on its Telegram channel.
“And in order to provide steam for the station’s own needs, the reactor plant of power unit No. 4 was transferred to the ‘hot shutdown’ state.”
Russia occupied the largest European nuclear power plant on Mar.4, 2022.
In a statement on Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said the UN nuclear watchdog was aware of the Russian plans.
“The plant has begun its planned transition of reactor unit 4 from cold to hot shutdown,” Grossi said.
He said the operator told IAEA experts that they carried out relevant tests and that the unit was heating up.
The IAEA said the plant used steam generated by a reactor in hot shutdown for various nuclear safety purposes, including the processing of liquid radioactive waste collected in storage tanks. EFE
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