Russia has agreed not to start up the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant until the end of the war, according to the IAEA

The temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant cannot be restarted until the war ends, as long as the threat to nuclear safety remains. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assures that the Russian Federation has agreed to this.

This statement was made by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

According to him, the IAEA team stationed at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was informed that issues related to the availability of cooling water and external power supply must be fully resolved before any of the plant’s reactors can be restarted.

These conditions for any future decision to bring the six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant out of their current cold shutdown state were conveyed to the IAEA team during discussions with the plant and Rostekhnadzor, the Russian regulatory authority, which is conducting pre-licensing inspection activities this week at reactor units No. 1 and No. 2.

The current operating licenses, issued by Ukraine’s national regulator State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU), expire in December this year and February 2026, respectively.

“The largest nuclear power plant in Europe has not produced electricity for nearly three years, and its location on the front lines of the conflict continues to pose a constant threat to nuclear safety,” the statement said.

The IAEA emphasized that the external power supply situation at the site remains extremely unstable: currently, only one power transmission line is operational, compared to ten before the conflict. Additionally, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in mid-2023 means that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant no longer has sufficient water to cool its six reactors.

“Based on this week’s discussions at the site, it is clear that there is a broad consensus among all parties that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant cannot resume operations as long as this large-scale war continues to threaten nuclear safety at the facility — a point also made very clearly by Director General Grossi,” the Agency’s statement reads.

It was previously reported that the Russian Federation is preparing new attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Nuclear energy facilities may also come under threat.

On June 15, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine’s nuclear generation infrastructure is under threat. Russian occupiers are planning further attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.

Andriy Romanuk