Nuclear power plant of special status - Newspaper Kommersant No. 183 (7384) dated 04.10.2022

Nuclear power plant of special status - Newspaper Kommersant No. 183 (7384) dated 04.10.2022



The text of the law on the entry of the Zaporozhye region into Russia did not bring much clarity to the questions about the future status of the Zaporizhzhya NPP (ZNPP, 6 GW). It is only obvious that the process of object integration will be difficult and lengthy. The norms of Russian nuclear regulation will not automatically apply to the region, and for almost five years - until January 2028 - the station can operate in a special mode, which, however, has yet to be invented.

As noted in Article No. 31 of the accession law, the President and the Government of the Russian Federation can establish in the region certain “peculiarities for the application” of Russian laws in the field of nuclear energy, transportation of nuclear waste and storage of nuclear materials.

After reading the text of the law, we can conclude that the Russian Federation can recognize Ukrainian licenses for the operation of nuclear power plants and already issued work permits for personnel. The law also revealed some licenses issued by the civil-military administration of the Zaporozhye region. Nothing was known about them before. These licenses can also be recognized in the Russian Federation. It remains to be hoped that there will be people in the regional administration who understand the specifics of the operation of nuclear power plants.

However, it is pointless to talk about licenses without knowing the answer to the key question: who will take responsibility for the operation of the Zaporizhzhya NPP? Only Rosatom can manage nuclear units in the Russian Federation, but the state corporation is not mentioned in the law.

The absence of at least some specifics in the document may indicate ongoing discussions between the authorities and Rosatom and Rostekhnadzor, who understand the complexity of the procedure for licensing and operating the facility. At the same time, the law states that the government of the Russian Federation can determine a certain “procedure for recognizing” the operator of a nuclear power plant in the region. Does this mean that a new operator may appear in the region, which will have to be “recognized”?

According to the authors of the law, the international treaty of the Russian Federation with the IAEA of 1985 and the protocol to it of 2000 now need a special reading. Apparently, Moscow wants to propose to the IAEA that ZNPP be subject to voluntary guarantees on the nonproliferation of nuclear materials. Since Russia (unlike Ukraine) has nuclear weapons, IAEA inspectors are not required to strictly control Russian nuclear power plants, much less physically visit them.

The vague wording that the Russian government can establish in the region the specifics of "taking measures to fulfill obligations" of agreements with the IAEA is similar to an invitation to negotiations. Those may begin very soon: the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, planned to visit Moscow and Kyiv this week.



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