Grossi on progress of IAEA talks with Russians on ZNPP: consensus on impossibility of plant operating in wartime reached
An expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Russian regulator Rostekhnadzor reached a general consensus among all parties that Ukraine's Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) cannot start operating again as long as this large-scale war continues to endanger nuclear safety at the site.
The agency reported this on its website, citing IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, on June 19.
"Based on the discussions at the site this week, it is clear that there is a general consensus among all parties that the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant cannot start operating again as long as this large-scale war continues to endanger nuclear safety at the site," Grossi said.
He said that the IAEA team based at ZNPP has been informed that challenges related to the availability of cooling water and off-site power will need to be fully resolved before any of its reactors can be restarted.
The IAEA said that those pre-conditions for any future decision to take the ZNPP's six reactors from their current cold shutdown status were communicated to the IAEA team during discussions with the plant and Rostekhnadzor, the Russian regulator which is this week conducting pre-licensing inspection activities at reactor units 1 and 2. The current operating licenses – issued by the Ukrainian State regulator, SNRIU, – are due to expire in December this year and in February 2026, respectively.
According to the IAEA, ZNPP off-site power situation also remains extremely fragile, with only one power line currently functioning compared with ten before the conflict. In addition, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in mid-2023 means the ZNPP does not have sufficient water to cool six operating reactors.
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 this week.
"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 IAEA said.
Over the past week, one of the three reactor units at the Pivdennoukrainska (South Ukraine) NPP completed its planned refuelling and maintenance outage and returned to full power generation, after which another unit was shut down for maintenance. The refuelling and maintenance outage of the third unit is still ongoing, as is the planned such outage of one Rivne NPP's four reactors.