Rafael Grossi discussed with Alexei Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, who said, among other things, that Ukrainian artillery and drone attacks against the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the town of Enerhodar have increased in recent months. He recalled that at the beginning of March, at the initiative of the Director General of the IAEA, a ceasefire was announced around the power plant for the fifth time, during which the facility’s power supply was restored. As he said, there is still a risk of the power plant’s external power supply being cut off.
He reported that thanks to the advance measures taken by the plant’s staff and the operating power generation division, Roszenergoatom, the facility set an absolute record for operating in power isolation, relying on a system of diesel generators. He called on the IAEA to do everything in its power to preserve the integrity of the entire infrastructure of the power plant, including the power supply and power delivery system.
Likhachev told reporters that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant will be operated by Rosatom if an international agreement is reached on the commercial use of electricity produced by the power plant. He did not rule out the possibility that the United States would also participate in the negotiations on the future of the six-gigawatt facility, especially with regard to cooperation in the field of power supply for data centers.
He announced that Rosatom submitted the documentation for the operation of another unit of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant to the Russian technical supervision.
Permits have already been issued for the operation of the first and second blocks. We have submitted the documentation for the sixth unit to Rostyehnadzor, the environmental, industrial and nuclear supervision office. The necessary preparatory work is underway for the other three blocks
he announced. “The IAEA would like to delve into the documentation and examine the essential elements of these decisions,” he added.
Likhachov stated that Rosatom plans to compile the license package for all six blocks this year.
He announced that he informed the IAEA Director General about the situation of the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran and the further plans, and the Russian delegation also listened to the assessment of the situation by the representatives of the agency.
We have multifaceted relations with Iran’s nuclear industry, so we can say that Russia has never seen any evidence that Iran has developed nuclear weapons
he declared.
The head of Rosatom reported on Thursday that the second phase of the evacuation of Russian specialists from the Bushehr power plant, where about 450 Russian employees are still working, has been completed.
On Friday morning, Grossi held a meeting with representatives of Rostyehnadzor, the National Guard and the army, as well as with the people responsible for the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, with the participation of Rosatom employees.
Yevheniya Yasina, communications director of the Zaporizhia power plant, said that the Ukrainian side periodically fired at areas close to the facility and Enerhodar during Friday’s negotiations in Moscow.
