IAEA and Russia agree that it is impossible to restart ZNPP power units as long as war continues - Grossi
The IAEA, in discussions with the occupation administration and Russian regulator Rostekhnadzor at Zaporizhzhia NPP this week, agreed that it is impossible to launch power units at the plant as long as the war threatens nuclear safety at the facility.
According to Censor.NET, the agency reported this with reference to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
"Based on the discussions at the site this week, it is clear that there is a general consensus among all parties that the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant cannot start operating again as long as this large-scale war continues to endanger nuclear safety at the site," Grossi said.
According to him, the IAEA team working at ZNPP was informed that the issues related to the availability of cooling water and electricity outside the plant must be fully resolved before any of its reactors can be restarted.
According to the agency, these prerequisites for any future decision to bring the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia NPP out of the current cold shutdown state were brought to the attention of the IAEA team during its talks with the occupation management of the plant and Rostekhnadzor, which is conducting a pre-licensing inspection at ZNPP Units 1 and 2 this week. The current operating licences issued by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) expire in December this year and February 2026, respectively.
The IAEA stressed that the situation with electricity supply outside the ZNPP site also remains extremely unstable: only one power line is currently operational, compared to ten before the conflict. In addition, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in mid-2023 means that the plant does not have enough water to cool the six operating reactors.
During this week, the IAEA team has been observing various maintenance activities at the site, including on parts of the safety system of reactor unit 5 and on the unit 4 main transformer – which commenced its planned maintenance period.
"The team was informed that a pump in one of the site’s 11 groundwater wells built after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam is currently not working and will be replaced. The ten remaining wells continue to supply the sufficient flow of water needed for the shutdown reactors," the agency added.
The IAEA team also reported hearing explosions at different distances from the site almost every day over the past week.
