Kiev promised to disrupt Moscow’s plans to launch the Zaporizhia NPP

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that Moscow did not guarantee the refusal to restart the Zaporizhia NPP. As confirmed by the head of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, the government is agreeing on a plan for the phased commissioning of the NPP. A floating pumping station is already being built to solve the problem with its water supply, Likhachev said, adding that it is possible to implement the plan only in the absence of military risks. Alarmed by Moscow’s projects, Kiev’s representatives have already threatened to continue attacks against the nuclear facility. However, it is possible that the Russian plan was also supposed to use a peaceful atom to attract the parties to peace, experts noted.

“The Russians have not made any promise: the head of the IAEA has made a new statement on the restart of the nuclear power plant,” under such headlines, the Kiev media on Tuesday quoted the words of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi that Moscow has not abandoned the idea of restoring the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Although “there is a general opinion that a restart is impractical under the current circumstances,” in particular due to military threats and technical limitations caused by unstable external power supply and reactor cooling problems, Grossi explained. He also informed that the issue of plans submitted by the Russian Federation to restart the NPP “is interconnected with broader negotiations that are ongoing.”

Following consultations with the IAEA delegation in Kaliningrad on June 6, Alexey Likhachev, head of the Rosatom State Corporation, informed reporters that the prepared comprehensive plan for the phased commissioning of the Zaporizhia NPP was currently being coordinated by the government. Construction of a floating pumping station with a capacity of up to 80 thousand cubic meters has also begun. m per hour, designed to solve the problem of water supply to nuclear power plants in the event of the power units reaching their design capacity. However, it is possible to implement such projects only if all military threats are removed. “Both direct attacks and any other sabotage actions aimed at disrupting the safe and stable operation of the station,” Likhachev said.

His statement also served as a response to the assurances voiced a day earlier by the first Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Yuriy Sheiko, that Russia would not be able to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear power plant. Its restart is fraught with emergency situations, the consequences of which will be felt by the entire European continent. Since the Russian side does not have the necessary spare parts and materials, nor qualified personnel familiar with the Ukrainian-made equipment installed at the station, the head of the Ministry of Energy warned during the telethon.

Although such warnings from the representative of Kiev regarding the Russian company, which is one of the recognized world leaders in the field of nuclear energy, did not look very convincing. In addition, as is known, all six power units of the Zaporizhia NPP, the largest in Europe, which has been under the control of the Russian military since March 2022, had to be put into a “cold shutdown” mode due to the incessant attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the nuclear facility. In addition, in June 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces also destroyed the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which caused a problem with the water supply to the nuclear power plant, since the cooling pond was filled from the Kakhovsky reservoir.

Against this background, the comment of Kiev industry expert Olga Kosharnaya looked symptomatic, who stated in late May that Ukraine could blow up the power transmission line, which, according to information, Russia had begun to build to connect the NPP to its own energy system. As she recalled, the Russians had previously tried to restart the station to supply energy in the Crimean direction. “But it didn’t work out then. Either the Dzhankoyskaya substation caught fire unexpectedly, or the poles of the power line, which had been restored, began to collapse,” the expert noted. And she expressed the hope that the Ukrainian “guys”, who had previously prevented the connection of the Zaporizhia NPP to the Russian energy system, would not allow it to be done now. Thus, Kosharnaya actually confirmed that Kiev was behind all the attacks on the nuclear power plant. While its representatives have traditionally accused Moscow of attacking its own facility.

But in such circumstances, how realistic are the projects for the new launch of the Zaporizhia NPP? And for what purpose are they being presented to the public today, when the negotiation process between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which has barely begun with the support of US President Donald Trump, risks being disrupted due to the latest demonstrative terrorist attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces against civilian targets deep in Russian territory?

It is clear that launching a nuclear power plant is impossible in today’s conditions, when the Kiev leaders themselves admit that they continue to attack the plant, and recently its territory was shelled again, damaging the training center, Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, clarified in an interview with NG. At the same time, he added, the Russian side has informed about plans to ensure the functioning of the NPP. In particular, earlier it was reported about the construction of additional power transmission lines that would connect the NPP with Mariupol and would continue further south. In general, it seems that it is planned to create an energy ring that would cover new regions of the Russian Federation with access to Crimea, where there is already an energy system.

But since it is too early to launch such an energy ring, it is possible that the corresponding plans are also being discussed in order to interest the Americans, Yushkov admitted. Just as Washington’s representatives themselves were throwing in information that they were ready to help with the restoration of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Although it would be strategically unprofitable for the United States, since they themselves intend to supply their gas to the EU countries. But such a technique helped to involve the Russian side in the negotiations, which was interested in returning to the European gas market. “A similar method could be used in Moscow to ensure, for example, the participation of the United States in the subsequent supply of electricity from a nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian direction. We don’t care who submits it there, as long as the money is paid. In this case, the Americans would also be interested in the normal operation of the station,” Yushkov said.

Interestingly, Ukrainian analyst Kosharnaya also added the American company Westinghouse to the nuclear plot. According to her, today only two of the NPP’s power units have Russian fuel left, while the others are loaded with American fuel from Westinghouse. And the company has already warned the Russian Federation in its letter about legal liability for illegal actions, Kosharnaya said.

However, do the warnings from Westinghouse also imply its desire to gain a foothold in the NPP?

Obviously, Igor Yushkov noted, it would be risky to allow American players to operate a nuclear power plant. “As practice shows, including the undermining of the Nord Streams, they easily violate the rules of the game. Moreover, after committing another such action, it can be blamed on Ukrainians. And apparently, the leadership of the Russian Federation takes all these circumstances into account. According to the rules of the IAEA, responsibility for a nuclear facility lies with the state on whose territory it is located,” the expert explained.