Under the chairmanship of Minister of Energy German Galushchenko, a preparatory meeting of the interagency crisis headquarters was held, attended by Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets, President of NNEGC Energoatom Petro Kotin, Head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate Oleh Korikov, representatives of the State Emergency Service, as well as representatives of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Kherson regional military administrations.

The headquarters focused on analysing information on the situation at the occupied ZNPP and modelling scenarios in the event of a possible terrorist attack at the nuclear facility.

Minister of Energy German Galushchenko noted that one of the units was still operating in a “hot shutdown” mode.

“The occupiers are deliberately blocking the transfer of the fifth unit to cold shutdown mode. This significantly increases the risk of a terrorist threat at the nuclear facility,” said German Galushchenko.

In order to be able to react quickly, the headquarters receives data from sensors used by Energoatom, the State Emergency Service, and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate. The Minister also noted the role of IAEA experts who were currently at the ZNPP.

“Four experts are physically present at the plant site. It is important that they take an active position in reporting and monitoring the situation,” the Minister said.

In turn, Energoatom President Petro Kotin added that the company was modelling various scenarios for the development of events at the ZNPP, their possible consequences and options for the fastest possible resolution.

“Our experts have worked out all the scenarios that could be implemented by the rashists at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Therefore, different response models will be developed in accordance with the possible consequences,” said Petro Kotin.

German Galushchenko emphasised that all emergency services were prepared for possible developments and had worked out relevant joint action protocols.

To test them in detail, the crisis headquarters decided to hold large-scale exercises involving central, regional and local agencies. The exercises will practise dealing with the consequences of the russian military blowing up one of the plant’s power units.