Russia to connect Zaporizhzhia NPP to Russian-controlled power grid in Crimea

ROMAN PETRENKO – TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2022, 18:23

Petro Kotin, president of Energoatom [a Ukrainian state enterprise operating nuclear power stations in Ukraine - ed.] has said that Russia has begun implementing its plan to disconnect the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) from the Ukrainian power grid and to connect it instead to the Russian grid.

Source: Petro Kotin on air during the 24/7 national joint newscast

Details: Kotin explained that Russia will attempt to disconnect the Russian-occupied territories in southern Ukraine from the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The ZNPP will then instead be connected to the Russian power grid in Crimea.

Quote from Kotin: "Rosatom staff [Rosatom is a Russian state nuclear energy corporation which is attempting to control the Russian-occupied ZNPP - ed.] are implementing a special procedure that will allow them to reconnect the ZNPP to Crimea.

One aspect of this procedure involves tampering with the power lines connecting the ZNPP with Ukraine’s power grid.

In order to ensure that the power produced at the ZNPP is relayed to Crimea, the entirety of  southern Ukraine has to be disconnected [from the ZNPP], including the [Russian-] occupied territories in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

This is spelled out in the procedure. Then they will connect those oblasts to the substation in Dzhankoi, then to the Kakhovka substation, and then they will reconnect the ZNPP.

Following this procedure, it will be impossible to connect it [the ZNPP - ed.] to the Ukrainian power grid, it will be hooked up to the Russian frequency.

That’s what their plan consists of, and they’ve started to implement it."

More details: Kotin added that as part of the plan, Russians have damaged three power lines [connecting the ZNPP to the Ukrainian power grid - ed.] over the course of the past three days. The power station is currently only supplying electricity to the Ukrainian grid via one power line.

Background: On the evening of 6 August, the Russian military fired rockets at the city of Enerhodar, hitting the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant directly next to the area used for storing spent nuclear fuel.

A woman was hospitalised and taken to intensive care following the Russian attack on the ZNPP on 7 August.

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