Russia wants to restart nuclear power plant in occupied territory – and has asked UN to intervene
Russia wants to restart the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which lies near one of the frontlines in the war.
Today, it has asked the UN nuclear
watchdog to mediate between Moscow and Washington to
resolve the question of what to do with US nuclear fuel stored
at the Ukrainian power plant.
The plant, which once generated a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity, has been idle since fighting came close in 2022. It has six reactors, the last of which stopped generating electricity in September that year.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), told Reuters this week that restarting the plant was currently
impossible because of the lack of a stable power supply and
water for cooling.
Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev said after
meeting Grossi today that Russia was willing either to use
the fuel, supplied by US company Westinghouse, or to remove it
entirely and return it to the United States.
Likhachev said Russia had prepared a “comprehensive plan” for the phased commissioning of the plant but it could only be implemented if all military threats were removed.
Westinghouse and US energy officials had previously raised
intellectual property concerns with Russia in connection with
the fuel issue, he said in televised comments.
Russian state news agency RIA quoted Grossi as saying the IAEA was
willing to mediate.
For context: Russia and Ukraine have each accused the other of shelling
the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, raising the
risk of a grave accident.
The facility was occupied by Russia in March 2022, shortly after the Kremlin’s troops invaded Ukraine at the start of the war.