{"id":1664,"date":"2024-05-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-prod.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2025-12-09T02:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T00:12:35","slug":"russian-government-publishes-first-detailed-plans-for-restart-of-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-greenpeace-condemns-nuclear-blackmail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/news\/1664\/russian-government-publishes-first-detailed-plans-for-restart-of-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-greenpeace-condemns-nuclear-blackmail\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian government publishes first detailed plans for restart of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant \u2013 Greenpeace condemns nuclear blackmail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kyiv, May 17, 2024<\/em> – Greenpeace Austria condemns in the strongest possible terms the plans of Rosatom, the Russian State Nuclear Corporation, and the Russian government to proceed with the restart of nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The first details of Rosatom\u2019s plans are contained in an official document submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by the Russian government on 14 May, 2024 [1]. The submission reveals plans for the construction of a large pumping station, designed to supply water for the nuclear plant. Following the demolition of the Nova Kakhovka dam on 6 June 2023, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant no longer was able to access water from the Kakhovka reservoir. The six reactors at Zaporizhzhia have been shut down since 2022. In an analysis published in February 2024, Greenpeace Austria warned that the nuclear plant site would require a new pumping system to extract water from the Dnipro river channels near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. [2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cSince Russia attacked, damaged and occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on March 4, 2022, the risk of a nuclear disaster has been high. But if plans proceed to restart reactors at the plant the level of risk and the consequences will be much more severe. This submission to the IAEA is outrageous, with Russia claiming that its, \u201cmain task is to prevent threats to the safety and security of the plant created by the Kyiv regime.\u201d \u00a0No \u2013 the threat of a nuclear disaster is entirely due to Russia\u2019s war and occupation of the plant \u2013 and this is another case of Russian nuclear blackmail which has the potential to explode across Ukraine and Europe,\u201d said Shaun Burnie, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Austria.<\/p>\n\n

The Russian submission to the IAEA discloses for the first time that a pumping station is to be constructed. The station would have capacity to supply up to 18,000 cubic meters of water per hour to the cooling pond. Greenpeace analysis has indicated two potential locations for the new pumping station.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

In February 2024, Greenpeace Austria in its analysis of the many obstacles to restart, focused on the water problem, and urged the IAEA Director General to take a strong position against any Russian plans for restarting the Zaporizhzhia reactors. In March 2024, Greenpeace issued a warning that restart of one or more reactors at the nuclear plant site could lead to a disaster greater than Fukushima or even Chornobyl.[3] Last month, Greenpeace International wrote wrote to the IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, seeking assurances that the IAEA will not in any way facilitate Rosatom in the restart the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.(4)<\/p>\n\n

\u201cRosatom has no legal authority to operate the Zaporizhzhia plant – that lies entirely with the Ukrainian regulator and owner. It also lacks a sufficient number of skilled and qualified workers familiar with the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. For more than two years maintenance of critical installations has been wholly inadequate and on eight occasions the plant has lost all off site electrical power due to the war. The electricity supply is essential for the water cooling pumps to the reactors and spent nuclear fuel as well as other safety systems and remains highly unstable. The water supply to the cooling pond has been significantly compromised since the destruction of Nova Kakhovka dam by the Russian armed forces. Restarting one or more reactors in such a situation is not only outrageous it shows a blatant disregard for nuclear safety protocols. Urgent efforts by the international community, including the IAEA, must be made to stop these plans from being implemented,\u201d said Jan Vande Putte, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Belgium.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Austria is campaigning for comprehensive European Union sanctions against Rosatom and their nuclear partners in Europe and worldwide and actively supporting the development of renewable energy in Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

For further information:<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Daryna Rogachuk, communication officer
daryna.rogachuk@greenpeace.org<\/em><\/p>\n\n

1 – Communication from the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the Agency, INFCIRC\/1208, 15 May 2024, see www.iaea.org\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/documents\/infcircs\/2024\/infcirc1208.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n

2\u00a0 \u2013 Greenpeace Austria, Is Rosatom Planning The Restart Of Zaporozhzhia Reactor(s)?, 3 February 2024, see https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1mipUyMmnA0XXlD57UOQfduYkvj6LcANb\/view<\/a><\/p>\n\n

3 \u2013 Greenpeace Germany, Second anniversary of Russia\u2019s nuclear plant attack in Ukraine, 5 March 2024, see https:\/\/www.greenreconstruction.com\/news\/second-anniversary-of-russias-nuclear-plant-attack-in-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n\n

4 \u2013 Grim anniversary: Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant must not become the next Chornobyl, 26 April 2024, see <\/a>https:\/\/greenpeace.at\/cee-press-hub\/chornobyl-38-anniversary\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first details of Rosatom\u2019s plans are contained in an official document submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by the Russian government on 14 May, 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":1665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"p4-page-type":[107],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nuclear","p4-page-type-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5047,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions\/5047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}