On December 29, the head of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant controlled by Russia said that this facility could restart power generation about 18 months after the conflict in Ukraine ends.
According to Mr. Ramil Galiyev, if the conflict ends in the near future, the plant will be ready to resume operations in mid-2027.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, considered the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, is located in southeastern Ukraine and has been under Russian control since March 2022, when Russian forces controlled most of this area.
Currently, the facility does not produce electricity but depends on external power sources to maintain the nuclear fuel cooling system, in order to prevent the risk of melting the core.
According to Mr. Galiyev, many serious issues need to be resolved before the factory can resume operation. These tasks include adding water to the cooling lake and preparing the railway system to serve technical and material transportation. He said these items are necessary conditions to ensure safety for the restart process.
In parallel with that, power line repair activities at the plant are being carried out under the supervision of a group of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The repair work is expected to last for a few days, in order to ensure stable power supply for the plant's safety system.
In the past time, Russia and Ukraine have frequently accused each other of shelling near the Zaporizhzhia plant area, raising concerns about the risk of a nuclear disaster. These repeated accusations continue to make the security situation around the facility sensitive, while the plant is still in a state of power outage.
