Insili for Russia to restart Zaporizhzia’s nuclear plant, says the Ukrainian Energy Chief | Ukraine

It would not be sure for Russia to restart the nuclear plant of Zaporizhzia occupied and would take Ukraine Up to two years in peacetime if it has regained control, said the CEO of the company that manages the vast six -reactors site.

Petro Kotin, CEO of Energoatom, said in an interview that there were “serious problems” to overcome, including insufficient cooling water, staff and supply of electricity coming – before it could start generating energy safely.

The future of the Zaporizhzia plant, the largest European nuclear reactor, is a significant aspect of any negotiation to end the war in Ukraine. Seized by Russia in the spring of 2022 and closed for security reasons a few months later, he remains at the forefront of the conflict, near the Dnipro river.

Russia said that she intends to retain the site and change it, without being specific to when. Alexey Likhachev, head of the Russian nuclear operator Rosatom, said in February that it would be restarted when “military and political conditions allow him”.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has expressed interest in taking control, Although this possibility is considered very remote.

Kotin said that Energoatom was ready to restart the plant, but would require the removal of the Russian forces and the site to be minimized and demilitarized.

He said that such a restart of Ukraine would employ everywhere “from two months to two years” in an environment “without any threat of the military”, while a Russian restart during the war “would be impossible, even for a unit (reactor)”.

Kotin said that the six reactors could only be brought online after the completion of 27 safety programs agreed with the Ukraine nuclear regulator, including the nuclear fuel test in the reactor nuclei because he had passed a six -year “design term”.

This raises questions that Russia can restart the plant after one ceases without supporting a significant risk. The plant was not already sure, Kotin said, since it was used as “a military base with military vehicles present” and there were probably also some weapons and explosion materials “.

Russia recognized who placed the mines among the internal and external perimeters of the plant “to discourage the potential Ukrainian sabuors” while the IEA nuclear dog inspectors have reported that armed troops and military personnel are present on the site.

Last month, The United States Department of Energy said The Zaporizhzia plant was managed by an inadequate and insufficient “inadequate” group of workers, with staff levels for less than a third of the pre -war levels.

The United States briefing said that Ukrainian reactors, although originally of the Soviet Vver design, had “evolved differently” from their Russian counterparts and “in particular safety systems”. The specialists trained by the Russian who act as substitutes for Ukrainian staff have been “inexperienced” in managing the Ukrainian variants, he said.

Kotin said that an attempt to restart the plant by Russia would almost certainly not be accepted or supported by Ukraine. It would require the reconnection of three further 750kv high voltage lines to enter the plant, he said.

A nuclear reactor requires a significant amount of energy for daily operation and three of the four high voltage lines came from territories now under Russian occupation. “They themselves destroyed the lines,” said Kotin, only for Russia that the engineers could not reconstruct them while the war continued, he added.

Only two lines remain to maintain the site in cold closure, a 750kv line from Ukraine and a further 330kv line, although on eight separate occasions they interrupted their energy supply, forcing the system to rely on backup generators.

Experts say that a pumping station must be built on the site, because insufficient cooling water is not available. The destruction of June 2023 by the Russian soldiers of the Nova Kakhova Dam downstream eliminated the easy supply of water necessary by the Dnipro river.

According to reports, two civilians were killed by Russian missile attacks on Sunday, including one in a ballistic missile strike in an eastern Kiev district; While Russia said it had captured a border village near Sumy in the north-east of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia has launched over 1,460 guided air bombs, almost 670 attack drones and more than 30 missiles during last week. The Ukrainian president said: “The number of air attacks is on the rise”.

So far the talks on the ceased the fire of the United States have only achieved limited results so far. Both parties have agreed to stop attacking energy objectives, although each accuses the other of the violations; While one ceases the maritime fire agreed by Ukraine was not accepted by Russia.

A Russian official involved in negotiations declared on Sunday that diplomatic contacts between Russia and the United States could return already next week.