US ownership offers ‘best protection’ for Ukrainian energy infrastructure
US president Donald Trump proposed that the US take over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in a telephone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 19 March.
The call between the two leaders came a day after Trump spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as part of the US president’s push to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants,” according to an account of the call from secretary of state Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
“He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” the summary added, with US ownership offering “the best protection” for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Press reports said Zelenskyy and Trump only discussed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is under the control of Russian forces.
The six-unit Zaporizhzhia nuclear station is the largest in Europe with a net capacity of 5,700 MW when all units are fully operational.
Zaporizhzhia, near the city of Enerhodar, close to the frontline of fighting in southern Ukraine, has been under Russian occupation since 2022.
All six units are in a state of cold shutdown, defined by nuclear regulators as meaning the reactor coolant system is at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature below about 90°C following a reactor cooldown. Cold shutdown reduces the need for cooling and lessens the risk of an accident. In a cold shutdown, the reactor is in a subcritical state, meaning no nuclear fission is taking place, and the fuel and control rods can be safely removed and replaced.
IAEA Has Repeatedly Warned Of Accident Risk
Ukraine and its allies have repeatedly urged Russia to withdraw its troops from the plant. Throughout its occupation, the plant has been repeatedly disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid due to Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi has on numerous occasions sounded the alarm about the continued risk of nuclear accidents as a result of Russia’s attacks on Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine’s power grid.
Three years of Russian strikes on its power grid have left Ukraine reliant on nuclear power for more than half of its electricity generation. That nuclear power is generated by three functioning stations – Khmelnitski, Rivne and South Ukraine.
Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom is planning to complete Units 3 and 4 at Khmelnitski, in western Ukraine, construction of which is suspended.
The plan is to buy reactor equipment that was produced by Russia for the abandoned Belene nuclear power station project in Bulgaria.
Construction of two VVER-1000 units at Khmelnitski-3 and -4 was abandoned in 1990 in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Soviet Ukraine and because of financial shortages.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is near the city of Enerhodar, close to the frontline of fighting in southern Ukraine. Courtesy IAEA.
