The "Zaporozhye" nuclear power plant, currently under Russian control, can be restarted safely only if returned to Ukraine. This was stated by Pavlo Kovtonyuk, head of Ukraine's state nuclear company "Energoatom", quoted by "Reuters".
The six reactors of the power plant have been shut down since Russian forces took over the area. Last year, Moscow said it was seeking to restart at least one reactor, and the plant's Russian-appointed head said it could start producing power by 2027.
But according to Kovtonyuk, Russia lacks the equipment and spare parts to operate it and risks a nuclear accident if it tries.
"Russia will not be able to start the plant. The main equipment and control, protection and monitoring systems are Ukrainian," he said. He specified that this means that this is a Ukrainian project, and the spare parts are produced in Ukrainian enterprises. Without spare parts and without the project, the plant simply cannot be operated, the head of "Energoatom" added.
Pavlo Kovtonyuk recalled the Chernobyl accident to describe the risks of any Russian attempt to restart the "Zaporozhye" NPP without access to Ukrainian equipment and expertise.
"Nobody at the Chernobyl power plant intentionally wanted a disaster to happen. But it happened because the equipment could not work in the conditions it was in," he explained, adding that the situation with Zaporozhye is exactly the same.
According to him, the available water reserves are not enough to cool even one reactor after the destruction of the "Kakhovka" dam in 2023 emptied the Kakhovka Reservoir, a huge artificial lake near which the plant is located.