ZAPORIZHIA | SPECIAL REPORT
operator was working in a main control room and sometimes for more than one shift. Many of the staff who refused to cooperate with Rosatom
were replaced and banned from the plant. In early February, it was reported that the last staff disloyal to Rosatom – about 400 qualified and licensed employees – have been dismissed from the station. Meanwhile, Russian military and civil staff – more than 1000 people – live in the plant premises while military vehicles are also on the site and even within the turbine halls.
The radiation situation at the station is within normal limits and without change, that is natural for a station that was completely shut down more than a year ago. Since September 2022 there have been permanent IAEA monitoring missions at the plant. The 16th group of 2-3 experts arrived at the plant in January this year. They can only go to locations permitted by Russia and recently the inspectors were not allowed to visit the reactor halls. They are shown the plant’s maintenance activities plan without receiving a copy for a detailed review. They can visit the main control rooms but can’t ask questions about qualifications and experience of the staff. Sometimes they report sounds near the plant similar to the sound of launching missiles from multiple launch rocket systems. There are similar IAEA missions at other Ukrainian plants. The Zaporizhia nuclear plant is now a Russian enterprise
located on Russian territory under the amended Russian constitution and in the view of the Russian president. In
interviews the general director of Rosatom has reportedly referred to the titanic efforts of Russia to reduce any risks at the site to zero, under the control of the IAEA, and its efforts to protect the plant and its staff from the armed intervention of the Ukrainian armed forces.
An uncertain future Russia currently has limited prospects for starting up the plant given it has no powerful consumers in the region. The Ukrainian power community waits for the liberation of the territories and hopes that the main plant equipment will not be damaged before or after the Russian’s leave. Ukrainians believe that the Zaporizhia plant will become a bargaining chip for Russia and will maintain its integrity through to the end of these dark times. It’s also understood that logic does not necessarily apply to such forecasts during a period of conflict. But even in such a favourable case, the prospects for
Ukraine and the role of Zaporizhia are not especially favourable. It may take one to two years to start up one or two units given the cooling pond can’t withstand more without considerable making up from the Dnipro river. The state of the cooling pond is unknown; the biology of the water may be not good for effective cooling of the turbines and it may need years to restore it. Certainly, building the new Kakhovka dam and filling the Kakhovka reservoir will take years. It’s a very long road and it’s unknown when the first step towards an operating Zaporizhia can begin. ■
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