“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
Mar 20, 2025
he Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, once supplied roughly 20% of Ukraine’s energy but is now occupied by Russian forces and shut down. (See article for photo credits.)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion:
Trump’s idea to take over (and own) the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during what was evidently an impromptu offer to Zelenskyy during a telephone conversation is ridiculous and strategically insane. What on earth does Trump know about operating a nuclear power plant, let alone one under Russian siege and controlled by Russian control and supervision in a war zone? The answer is “nothing”.
In my opinion, this is one of the many serious problems with Trump, always. He shoots off his dictatorial mouth from off the top of his head without a 2nd thought about the reality or even the possibility of legitimate required expertise, understanding, or the slightest idea of what he , or even the U.S.A. can do as if we are seeking world domination. His return to the bullying of Iran is a clear example, which only creates animosity between them and us rather than treating other world leaders with respect. In other words, Trump does more damage than repair of the very same attitude that he demonstrated in his previous presidency. His very ‘holier than thou’ way of diplomacy does not create any kind of international unity in any important cooperation or peace-seeking world alliance anywhere other than Russia.
Russia and Ukraine are at war for a reason, and that reason is for Ukraine to defend and “own”, control, and operate their own country as a peaceful seeking free world democracy. So here we have Trump wedging his questionable form of government, whatever that is, as an unwanted 3rd party that favors Russia’s federal socialist or “kleptocracy” form of government over America’s own struggling democratic republic.
Tell me how Trump’s offering to let the USA run the unique type or kind of Russian nuclear reactors, that the USA has no knowledge or experience in, could provide Ukraine with the ability to keep their land and assets and succeed in their young democratic republic kind of government and join the other free world nations of NATO. Or could it be that we — as is the case with Trump’s copy-cat future of America to Putin’s dream of an expanded version of the old USSR — are on Russia’s side in their conflict with Ukraine and, if successful, invade the rest of what is now a free-world NATO Europe? ~llaw
Nuclear experts pour cold water on US idea to restore and run Ukrainian power plant
By Lauren Kent, CNN
5 minute read
Published 1:24 PM EDT, Thu March 20, 2025
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The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, once supplied roughly 20% of Ukraine’s energy but is now occupied by Russian forces and shut down.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
CNN —
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war, could be restored and protected by US ownership – at least according to the Americans.
But it’s unclear how the operation would work in practice, experts say, especially as the plant is on the front line, in territory controlled by Russia.
As part of ongoing talks to inch toward a partial ceasefire, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky “discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants” during a Wednesday phone call, according to the US readout of the call.
“(Trump) said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise. American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the readout said.
On Thursday, Zelensky disputed that section, saying: “In terms of ownership, we definitely did not discuss this with President Trump.” Zelensky stressed that “all nuclear power belongs to the (Ukrainian) state, including the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region.”
Zelensky said the day before that Ukraine is ready to consider the possibility of American investment in the restoration and modernization of Zaporizhzhia. During a news conference after his call with Trump, Zelensky said they only discussed the occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, rather than Ukraine’s wider nuclear power network.
Related ANALYSISHow to decode a head-spinning few days of Ukraine war diplomacy
“I believe that the station will not work under occupation. I believe that the station can be restored to operation,” Zelensky said, also cautioning that the process will take an estimated two years or more.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the Zaporizhzhia plant supplied roughly 20% of Ukraine’s energy, with six reactors, making it the largest nuclear power station in Europe. Ukrainian staff remain at the plant under Russian occupation, and at one point staff were forced to work at “gunpoint.”
But the plant is now disconnected from the grid and the electricity infrastructure required to operate the plant safely has been damaged by drone strikes and frequent shelling. Russia also destroyed the nearby Kakhovka dam, emptying the reservoir that supplied water to cool the plant.
All six reactors are shut down and there are concerns over the plant’s ongoing maintenance, as explosions continue nearby, according to a UN nuclear watchdog team on the ground.
When asked about how the US could potentially run a Ukrainian nuclear plant, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News that he didn’t believe it would require American troops on the ground.
“Certainly, we have immense technical expertise in the United States to run those plants. I don’t think that requires boots on the ground,” Wright said. “But I’ll leave the foreign policy to President Trump and Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio. I know they are working tirelessly, ‘How do we bring peace to Ukraine?’
“But, if it was helpful to achieve that end – have the US run nuclear power plants in Ukraine? No problem. We can do that,” Wright added.
But experts question how feasible the idea floated by the Trump administration would be.
Operating the plant safely would require a safe, constant power supply to avoid a reactor meltdown, as well as the restoration of sufficient water supplies for cooling the plant.
“The first word of business would be to establish definitively that there could be no attacks on either the plant directly or on the supporting infrastructure – both power and water resources – and that would have to be iron-clad,” said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “So far, that kind of agreement has been elusive, as shelling occurs at a daily basis in the vicinity of the reactors.”
Kyiv has blamed Russian forces for destroying the Kakhovka dam in June 2023, emptying the reservoir that supplied water to cool the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
“There’s no point in trying to rebuild a plant and operate it if it could be jeopardized at any moment,” Lyman said. “And the notion that US-ownership would somehow be more of a deterrent to Russia attacking the plant than now, when the Russians themselves control the plant, that doesn’t make sense either.”
The idea of US operation “raises a whole lot of logistical and technical and practical questions that are very unclear,” Lyman said, including the question of US liability for any accident at the facility. “With ownership or operator status comes responsibility.”
Nuclear experts have also highlighted that the US does not have any nuclear plants that use the same class of technology as Zaporizhzhia, which is a Soviet-designed “water water energetic reactor” (abbreviated as “VVER” in Russian).
“These are different technologies,” said Elena Sokova, director of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, adding that there are strict licensing requirements for the plant’s operators.
“The US is an advanced country… but to be prepared to immediately take control of something that is of a different design, designed by different country, and where you have no experience of running it – I don’t think it’s a good solution or viable option.”
“Having said that, if we’re talking about a long process, I’m sure certain things could be worked out, particularly if there is an arrangement… to have the majority of the Ukrainian staff and operators running these reactors,” Sokova added.
Rescuers and police officers attend an anti-radiation drill in June 2023 in case of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Reuters
Ukraine wants role in restoration of plant
Zelensky emphasized on Wednesday night that safe restoration of the plant is in the whole world’s interest, and Ukraine should have a role in that “because it is ours, and this is our land, this is our station.”
The Ukrainian president said any return of the plant would not be possible without control of the area where it is located – the city of Enerhodar – on the Russian-occupied side of the Zaporizhzhia region.
“If you just hand over the station, and a meter away from the station, everything is occupied or there are Russian weapons, no one will work like that,” Zelensky told reporters, raising concerns that the plant could be restored with US and Ukrainian investment, only to have Russia possibly damage or destroy it again later.
As fighting continues along the front line, the dire situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant “remains unchanged,” Andrian Prokip, energy program director at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, wrote last month.
“It still does not receive adequate maintenance and it continues to serve as a Russian ammunition depot,” said Prokip, also a senior associate at the Wilson Center.
CNN’s Svitlana Vlasova, Christian Edwards and DJ Judd contributed to this report
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Nuclear experts pour cold water on US idea to restore and run Ukrainian power plant – CNN
CNN
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war, could be restored and protected by US .
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