In late September, the nuclear power plant was taken out of operation, after reports of explosions and new hostilities in its vicinity. Now it has been shut down for almost two weeks, but according to Russian authorities, the power is on its way to being turned on.
The highest chief at Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom is quoted by state-controlled media when he says that currently there is no risk, but that "radical measures" are required as the plant needs to be started up and that they are "preparing for it".
On Monday, observers from the UN's atomic energy organization IAEA warned about shelling against and from the area, where artillery struck about a kilometer from the facility.
The Zaporizhzhia region's nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe and has six Soviet-manufactured pressurized water reactors. It has been under Russian occupation since an early stage in the large-scale war. Both sides have repeatedly warned about attacks from the other side that could cause a catastrophe.
The plant is located in the town of Enerhodar, right next to the Dnieper River, which forms the front line in the war with warring parties on each bank.
The ongoing outage there is the tenth and longest that has occurred during the war. Diesel-powered reserve generators provide the power needed to cool the reactors.
