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IAEA chief, Russian agencies discuss possibility of restarting Zaporozhye NPP

According to Rafael Grossi, the sides "were able to reach an understanding on some of the immediate work we need to undertake, exchanges we need to have on the safety of the plant, on its eventual restart"

KALININGRAD, May 28. /TASS/. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said that he has discussed the possibility of restarting the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) during his meetings with Russian officials in Kaliningrad.

"As a result of today’s meetings, we were able to reach an understanding on some of the immediate work we need to undertake, exchanges we need to have on the safety of the plant, on its eventual restart, what is needed for that, [whether] it is possible under the current circumstances," the IAEA chief said after the meeting with Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev.

The Russian official agreed with Grossi, pointing out that the imperative condition for restarting the Zaporozhye NPP is its safety.

The ZNPP, located in the Zaporozhye Region’s Energodar, has six power units with a total capacity of 6 GW. It is Europe’s largest nuclear power generating facility. On February 28, 2022, the facility was taken over by Russian forces. IAEA experts are staying at the plant on a rotating basis since September 2022.

Since then, units of the Ukrainian army have periodically conducted shelling both of residential districts in nearby Energodar and the premises of the nuclear plant itself, by means of drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev has repeatedly drawn international attention to the attacks and notified the IAEA's leadership. The IAEA acknowledges the attacks and says there is a risk of a nuclear incident, but does not name the perpetrators.

Since September 2022, all ZNPP reactors have been in cold shutdown mode. Previously, only five of the plant's six reactors were in this mode, while the fourth unit was in hot shutdown mode, producing steam and heat, including for the nearby town of Energodar, where most ZNPP employees live. In the spring, it was also switched to cold shutdown mode.

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Foreign policy IAEA Rafael Grossi

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