Oleg Davygora21:16, 04/12/24

Never before in the history of the nuclear industry has a hostile power captured and operated another country’s operating power plant.Russian leader Vladimir Putin told the IAEA that the Kremlin plans to restart the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian occupation.

So says The Wall Street Journal, citing its sources, noting that this further increases the risk of an incident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Never before in the history of the nuclear industry has a hostile power captured and operated another country’s operating power plant. 

Five of the station’s six reactors are currently offline – the so-called. cold stop. The sixth heats up just enough to produce the steam the station needs for basic safety processes. 

The Russian Federation does not have specialists who would know the smallest features of the station, which is no longer a Soviet-style station – it now runs partly on Western control systems and American nuclear fuel from Westinghouse. 

Currently, control rooms are operated by just one person, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a report, citing unspecified reports.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi met with Putin and the head of Rosatom in Sochi last month and asked whether the plant would be restarted. Putin said that it would definitely happen, but without specifying the timing, writes WSJ.

(C)UNIAN 2024