Russia preparing to evacuate nuclear plant
Russian authorities controlling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine are preparing to evacuate about 3,100 staff from areas in and around the facility, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear operator said Monday.
The plant pullout is being planned as occupying Russian authorities evacuate civilians from communities around the facility, the largest of its kind in Europe, in advance of a potential Ukrainian offensive in the south, Energoatom President Petro Kotin told The Washington Post.
The Russian-appointed governor of occupied Zaporizhzhia said Sunday that about 1,600 civilians had been moved out Enerhodar, home to the plant and many of its employees, and other communities. He cited “intensified shelling” by Ukrainian forces.
“What is most actually concerning for us is that we also have information that there are 3,100 people, workers from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, who are to be evacuated from the area,” Kotin said.
“They are preparing for this advance of Ukrainian forces. And if this happens, then they want to be prepared . . . to leave the area,” he said. But if the staff is evacuated, he said, “there will be lack of personnel just to operate the plant.”
The situation is becoming “unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned over the weekend.
“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. “We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.”
Kotin said he learned about preparations for a staff pullout on Sunday.
Ukraine has been planning for months to launch a large-scale counteroffensive aimed at retaking territory under Russian control. Analysts believe the nuclear plant, a major source of electricity and income for Ukraine, will be a top priority.
Evgeniy Balitsky, the Russian-appointed governor of occupied Zaporizhzhia, said he had ordered the evacuation of more than a dozen settlements near the plant.
“In this regard, I decided to remove, first of all, children with their parents, the elderly, the disabled, patients of medical institutions from enemy fire and move them from the front-line territories deep into the region,” he wrote on Telegram.
About 11,000 people worked at the nuclear power plant before the war, Kotin said. Of the employees who remain, he said, about 2,700 have signed contracts with the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, or Rosatom. About 1,500 are still employed by Ukraine’s Energoatom.