Radiation background near ZNPP and within 50-kilometer zone is normal

The head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Yurii Malashko, reported the information.

"The radiation background both near the nuclear power plant and in the 30 tp 50-kilometer zone is normal," he said. 

According to the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, the water level in the cooling pond is also normal and stands at 16.5 meters. This is enough to cool the 5th reactor.

He reminded that since September 2022, the reactors at ZNPP have been under emergency repair and shut down. Only one of the reactors is in hot cooling. Currently, ZNPP is powered by the backup power grid, and there are emergency diesel generators at the plant that can power the reactor. 

Malashko mentioned that the region had conducted preparedness exercises to test their response capabilities in case of an emergency. The population was informed about the evacuation procedure as part of the exercise. He emphasized that it is important for people to rely on official sources of information and not take potassium iodide without proper guidance.

In the event of an accident and loss of communication, the police will inform the population using loudspeakers. In addition, the region is provided with transportation and evacuation points. If necessary, people will be taken to Khmelnytskyi and Lviv regions.

The situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Russians occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP in late February 2022. Since then, there has been a constant presence of personnel and military equipment, which the invaders store in machine rooms and occasionally deploy to positions for shelling the territories of the Nikopol district in the Dnipropetrovsk region, located on the other side of the Kakhovka Reservoir.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has a monitoring mission at the station, which is supposed to ensure that the nuclear power plant is not used as a military base, that it is not attacked, and that no fire is initiated from the NPP. Power outages at the nuclear power plant occur regularly though. Occupiers began importing explosives to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant last year.

It became known in May 2023 that the Russians had placed explosives in the turbine room of the  ZNPP’s fourth power unit. Additionally, the invaders have nearly completely destroyed the emergency readiness and response system at the nuclear power plant.

On June 22, the Director-General of the IAEA, after visiting ZNPP Grossi, stated that the situation at the plant is extremely unstable. On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that intelligence had received information that Russia was considering a scenario for a terrorist act at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which would cause a radiation release. 

The Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that Russia has completed preparations for a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

On June 30, the Main Intelligence Directorate reported that the occupying Russian forces were gradually leaving the ZNPP, and that Ukrainian employees who had signed a contract with Rosatom also received evacuation recommendations. In addition, the plant's staff received an order to blame Ukraine in any emergency situation.

In his turn, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive and the process of Ukraine regaining control over the plant would continue even despite Russian nuclear blackmail.

On July 2, the mayor of the temporarily occupied Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said that some Rosatom employees and collaborators who had signed a contract with the company had left the plant.

On July 4, the Ukrainian Armed Forces officially reported that Russian troops were preparing a provocation at the ZNPP: they had placed suspicious devices similar to explosives on the roofs of units 3 and 4. 

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and warned him that Russia was preparing provocations at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.