War Ukraine – Russia, last minute | The UN detects "some anti-personnel mines" at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Sixth day of Russian drone attacks on kyiv marking 517 days of war in Ukraine. In addition to air alerts being activated in the Ukrainian capital, where Kievites were invited to take shelter, in the southern regions of Odesa and Mikolaiv, on the Black Sea coast, they were also sounded.
Russia, which decided not to extend the agreement on the export of grain, has been on a repeated offensive to destroy all kinds of port and agricultural infrastructure that could facilitate the exit of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to demand access to the roofs of the reactors and turbine halls of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine accused Russia, which has controlled the plant since March 2022, of having placed “objects similar to explosive devices” on the roofs of reactors 3 and 4.
The Russian operator of Ukraine's occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant today justified its hot shutdown of reactor number 4 by needing to carry out a scheduled technical inspection of another unit, while maintaining steam supply for the plant.
An inspection by the body led by the Argentine Rafael Grossi has concluded that there are “some anti-personnel mines” in the nuclear power plant but ruled out that they posed a danger. “A detonation of these mines should not affect the security systems of the place,” said this UN agency in a statement.
“In an inspection on July 23, the IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the inner and outer perimeter barriers of the site,” it added.
The Ukrainian state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, recalls in a statement that the destruction on June 6 of the New Kakhovka hydroelectric power station – located in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory – put at risk the supply of water for cooling the reactors at the Zaporizhia power plant.
“It is undeniable that the risk for nuclear and radioactive safety due to the long stoppages of activity of the reactor equipment, the lack of proper regular maintenance and repair of equipment,” warned Energoatom, according to Efe.
The Ukrainian state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, denounced last night that the Russian authorities have put reactor number 4 of the Zaporizhia atomic power station on hot shutdown, in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, which, according to the company, contravenes Ukrainian nuclear legislation.
“On July 24, 2023, despite the demands of the National Regulatory Commission for Atomic Energy and Energoatom, reactor number 4 of the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear plant was put into a hot shutdown,” says the company's note collected by Efe.
Energoatom adds that “these actions are a flagrant violation of the license requirements to operate this nuclear facility.”. “Currently, unit number 4 of the plant must be operated exclusively in cold shutdown,” the statement states.
According to the Spanish Nuclear Society, hot shutdown is the “operating state of a nuclear power plant after a reactor shutdown, keeping the reactor subcritical and the pressure and temperature of the coolant close to those of operation at power.”
This favors “favors a rapid restoration of its operation at power.”
A priest saves objects from the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa. . HONG | PA
The Ukrainian flag painted on a door in the city of Odessa. . HONG | PA
A man walks through rubble in Odessa. . “According to current information, there are neither victims nor destruction in the capital,” he added.
During the night, the authorities activated the anti-aircraft alert in the kyiv region and invited the inhabitants to stay under cover.
According to Popko, it is “already the sixth drone attack in the capital this month.”
The air forces also raised the alarm for air strikes in the southern regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv, on the Black Sea coast.
These regions have important port infrastructure that Moscow has attacked repeatedly since the end of the agreement last week that facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain by this sea.
The Ukrainian state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, has denounced before the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office the illegality of having “hot stopped” reactor number 4 of the Zaporizhia atomic power plant, in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, which, according to the company, contravenes Ukrainian nuclear legislation, reports Efe.
Energoatom has called on the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to take steps to put pressure on Russia to put all the Zaporizhia reactors on a cold shutdown.
After one of its periodic inspections of Zaporizhia, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published a report yesterday in which it reports the presence of explosive mines near and even within the perimeter of the Russian-occupied plant, something that contravenes the nuclear safety regulations of this UN agency.
The report also mentions that some of the reactors have been put on a hot shutdown for maintenance and inspections.