ST. PETERSBURG. June 15 (Interfax) - There is a threat of a direct strike on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Alexei Likhachev, CEO of Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, said on Thursday.
"We understand that the plant might be targeted for a strike at any moment," Likhachev told journalists on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"The absence of articulated commitment to IAEA principles on the part of the Kiev authorities in fact implies that they reserve the right to act as they see fit, and this doesn't bode well for the plant," he said.
"The situation is stable and under control. The plant's staff is extremely professional, and we have calculated all technological risks, certainly taking the Kakhovka [disaster] into account, but in my opinion, the military danger and the threat of a direct strike upon the plant are rather growing in the current conditions," he said.
There are enough resources to maintain the plant's security, he said.
"It should be understood, however, that five of the six [power units] are in a cold and one in a hot shutdown. This means that, of course, the reactor is at zero, but the plant's heat generation systems fed by an outer power source supply hot water both for the plant's own needs and, what's most important, for the needs of Energodar," he said.
"In this sense and for this condition, there are more than enough resources, and all the necessary guarantees of the plant's safety and security are in place," he said.