{"id":3301,"date":"2025-02-04T09:58:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T07:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/?p=3301"},"modified":"2025-12-12T19:58:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:58:05","slug":"greenpeace-urges-iaea-to-prevent-russian-restart-of-zaporizhzhia-reactors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/news\/3301\/greenpeace-urges-iaea-to-prevent-russian-restart-of-zaporizhzhia-reactors\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace Ukraine Urges IAEA to Prevent Illegal Russian Restart of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Reactors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kyiv, 4 February 2025 – Greenpeace Ukraine is calling on the IAEA to take immediate action to stop Russia’s illegal plans to restart the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The move is seen as part of Russia’s strategy to maintain long-term control over the site, which has been under illegal occupation for nearly three years. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, currently in Kyiv for meetings with Ukrainian officials, is then set to meet with Russian authorities. Greenpeace Ukraine has communicated its concerns directly to Grossi, urging the IAEA to uphold international resolutions and prevent any collaboration with Russia’s plans.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In a communication to the IAEA Director General, Greenpeace Ukraine has warned that Russian government officials have recently stated their intention to restart the reactors to generate electricity for Russia.[1] In December 2024, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said it was a \u201cdream\u201d of Rosatom to restart the reactors which have been shut-down since September 2022. The IAEA Director in 2024 stated that restart of the ZNPP was not possible under current war conditions, but also stated his talks with Rosatom included how, \u201cwe can further establish such a restart when such conditions are met\u201d. [2]<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSo long as ZNPP remains under illegal Russian occupation there are no conditions that permit the restart of reactors. If the Russian occupation is not ended, there is the very real prospect of the IAEA secretariat collaborating with Russia\u2019s plans for the restart. That would dramatically increase the risk of a nuclear disaster and would be a failure of the IAEA to respect Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity. That would be in contravention of resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and the IAEA own Board of Governors. The international community, including the IAEA, must do everything possible to stop Rosatom\u2019s \u201cdream\u201d turning into a long-term nuclear nightmare, and to implement a strategy for the earliest end to Russia\u2019s control of the nuclear plant. The fundamental nuclear safety and security issue for the IAEA must be how to stop the restart and secure Russia\u2019s de-occupation of the ZNPP,\u201d said Shaun Burnie, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n

The IAEA Board of Governors has stated that the Agency complies with the United Nations General Assembly resolution which requires that there be no action that recognizes the Russian illegal occupation of any part of Ukraine\u201d. [3]<\/p>\n\n

In December 2024, Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation stated the intention to restart the reactors, \u2018as fast as possible\u2019. [4] On 25 December 2024, Rosatom\u2019s \u201cnew head\u201d of the ZNPP stated, \u201cA decision has been made to manufacture new pumping station equipment and install it in the Dnipro riverbed\u201d. [5] Since Russian armed forces destroyed the Kakhovka hydro plant and reservoir in June 2023, the ZNPP has not had access to cooling water from the Dnipro river. There is sufficient water on the site and in the cooling pond while the reactors remain shut-down, but not if the reactors were restarted and operated for an extended period.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Ukraine’s analysis is that there is no credible nuclear safety, security or legal basis for restart of one or more reactors at the ZNPP while they remain under Russian armed forces and Rosatom control. So long as the ZNPP remains under Russian occupation, no legitimate safety management system can be developed that complies with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation and the relevant regulatory bodies.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt is impossible for Rosatom to meet IAEA nuclear safety guidelines in seeking to restart ZNPP.  We have called on the Director General to make this explicitly clear to Rosatom and Russian government representatives in his upcoming meetings. The IAEA must stop signaling to the Russian government that there is any legitimate pathway for their restart of reactors at Zaporizhzhia. The IAEA must not in any way support preparations for Russia\u2019s illegal restart of one or more nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia,\u201d said Jan Vande Putte, nuclear expert at Greenpeace Ukraine.  <\/p>\n\n

CONTACTS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace Ukraine nuclear specialist, <\/p>\n\n

shaun.burnie@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +447904958266<\/p>\n\n

Daryna Rogachuk, Communications Manager at Greenpeace Ukraine <\/p>\n\n

 drogachu@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +389 63 598 2600<\/p>\n\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

1 \u2013 ZNPP newsletter, Zaporizhzhya NPP: three key tasks, no 47 December 2025, see https:\/\/znpp.ru\/upload\/iblock\/372\/3722ee7ca5bb95b8ffe11d6c532dad2c.pdf<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

2 – Mind Ukraine, \u201cIAEA Director General: restart of Zaporizhzhya NPP is impossible now<\/p>\n\n

Grossi met with the head of Rosatom in Kaliningrad, 28 May 2024, see https:\/\/mind.ua\/en\/news\/20274200-iaea-director-general-restart-of-zaporizhzhya-npp-is-impossible-now<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

3 – IAEA, The safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine Resolution adopted on 17 November during the 1655th session, GOV\/2022\/71, 17 November 2022, see www.iaea.org\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/gov2022-71.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n

4 – TASS, Kiriyenko visited Zaporizhzhzia NPP and the satellite town of Enerhodar, 29 December 2024, see https:\/\/tass.ru\/politika\/22799809<\/a><\/p>\n\n

5 – Alexandra Korobova, The goal is to launch the units: about changes at the Zaporizhzhzia NPP, Zaporizhzhya NPP 25 December 2024, see https:\/\/strana-rosatom.ru\/2024\/12\/25\/cel-zapustit-bloki-o-peremenah-n\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyiv, 4 February 2025 – Greenpeace Ukraine is calling on the IAEA to take immediate action to stop Russia’s illegal plans to restart the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":3298,"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":[113,111],"p4-page-type":[107],"class_list":["post-3301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nuclear","tag-113","tag-zaporizhzhia-en","p4-page-type-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301","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=3301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5227,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301\/revisions\/5227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3301"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/ukraine\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=3301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}