Ukraine is considering restarting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, to ensure its safety just weeks after fears of a radiation disaster at the Russian-occupied facility, the president of the plant’s operator told The Associated Press on Tuesday. news.ro.

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has become one of the most alarming points of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was damaged in the fighting, sparking international alarm, and its head was detained by occupation forces over the weekend and released on Monday.

Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company Energoatom shut down the last of the plant’s six reactors on Sept. 11 as Russian military action cut off reliable external power for cooling and other safety systems, threatening a potentially catastrophic meltdown.

But now the company faced another problem.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Petro Kotin, president of Energoatom NAEC, said the company may restart two reactors within a few days to protect safety installations as winter approaches and temperatures drop.

Last month, the nuclear power plant’s last operating reactor was put into a so-called “cold shutdown,” reducing the likelihood of a dangerous meltdown.

But the risk still exists as long as there are nuclear fuel assemblies inside, Kotin explained.

A disaster could happen

Deliberate damage to reactors or safety and cooling equipment, or failure of these systems due to low temperatures, could still lead to disaster.

“You have waste heat and you have to provide a coolant for these fuel assemblies all the time. If you stop cooling, you’re going to have melting,” he said.

Russian troops have occupied the plant and its surroundings, including the nearby town of Energodar, while thousands of Ukrainian workers continue to man the plant. According to Kotin, the plant is the only source of heat in the city.

“Energoatom” can make a decision as early as Wednesday

“Energoatom” can make a decision on restarting the reactors as early as Wednesday.

“We’re assessing all the risks at this point. And it depends on the weather. And we really don’t have a lot of time to do that,” Kotin said.

At the time of the forced stop, Ukrainian officials warned that it was only a temporary measure and, as such, dangerous.

The plant is located in one of the four regions of Ukraine that Russia has claimed as its territory.

The head of the plant, detained by the Russians

The plant’s CEO, Igor Murashov, was captured and tied up by Russian troops as he returned home from work on Friday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the annexation agreements.

According to Kotin, Murashov said he was not beaten or otherwise abused, but was forced to make false statements on camera before he was released.

“I would say it was mental torture,” Kotin said of the unsubstantiated false confessions.

“He should have said that all the bombings of the Zaporizhia NPP were carried out by Ukrainian forces and that he is a Ukrainian intelligence officer and that he is in contact with Ukrainian special forces,” he added.

Later, he was released, but he will not return to the factory

Murashov was later released at a checkpoint on the edge of Russian-controlled territory and had to walk about 15 kilometers through no-man’s land to Ukrainian-controlled territory, according to Kotin.

The mayor of Energodar, Dmytro Orlov, said that in the meantime he spoke with Murashov, who said that he “spent two days in isolation in the basement in handcuffs and with a bag over his head.”

“It is difficult to call his condition normal,” Orlov added.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said on Tuesday that it “understands that Mr. Murashov is currently with his family in Ukrainian-controlled territory and will not continue to perform his duties at the ZNPP.”

“It is not yet clear who will replace him in this position,” the agency said.

The UN agency said its own director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, plans to travel to Kyiv this week and then to Moscow to secure an agreement on a “nuclear safety and security zone” around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.