Enerhoatom, the operator of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, has warned that Russia plans to forcibly "evacuate" about 3,100 employees of Europe's largest nuclear station, which already faces a "catastrophic lack of qualified personnel."
According to a statement from Enerhoatom on May 10, at first 2,700 employees who signed contracts with Russian energy officials are to be moved from the city of Enerhodar, located near the plant, which has been occupied by Moscow's troops since they seized control of it soon after Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Enerhoatom said Russia has shown an "inability" to secure operations at the plant and that the evacuation of such a large number of employees will affect the facility's security, even in its current shutdown mode.
"This [evacuation] will exacerbate the already extremely urgent issue of having a sufficient number of personnel to ensure the safety of operation of the [plant]," it said, adding the company is working on establishing a group of experts who would work at the nuclear power plant after the Zaporizhzhya region’s "de-occupation."
Ukraine's armed forces General Staff said on May 10 that Russian troops had started the evacuation of family members of the plant employees.
Last weekend, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said he was "extremely concerned" as Ukrainian forces stepped up shelling to dislodge Russian forces near the capital of the Zaporizhzhya region, the city of Zaporizhzhya, which was captured early on in the 14-month-old invasion.
"The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous," Grossi said in a statement. "I'm extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant."
Russia’s nuclear power plant operator, Rosenergoatom, said on May 9 that there have been no changes in the plant's operation and that the situation was "stably tense."
Since Russian forces captured the nuclear plant, Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of targeting the plant.
The reactors at the Soviet-designed plant have been shut down, but there is a risk that nuclear fuel could overheat if power supplies to the plant's cooling systems are cut off.
The plant has been forced to operate on backup generators several times since the Russian invasion.
