At a meeting in Sochi in March, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin told IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi that Russia wants to bring at least one reactor at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant back into operation.
Source. The Wall Street Journal reports.
The station was seized by Russian troops in 2022 at the beginning of a full-scale invasion. Currently, five of the plant's six reactors are in cold shutdown mode. One more is producing the energy needed to maintain the plant's safety.
According to the WSJ, there has never been a case in history where one country has taken over and operated another country's operating nuclear power plant.
According to the newspaper, to restart the plant, Russia will need to bring in numerous specialists from outside, as Zaporizhzhia NPP is not a "Soviet-style" plant, it operates partly on Western control systems and American nuclear fuel.
Background. As reported, the permitted lifetime of nuclear fuel in all six reactors at ZNPP is about to expire.