ZNPP Director reported on plans to replace foreign equipment with Russian equipment

Foreign-made equipment installed during the Ukrainian period at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (ZNPP) will be replaced with Russian equipment as part of the licensing process. ZNPP director Yuriy Chernichuk told TASS in an interview on January 2.

"There is a great deal of equipment at ZNPP that was manufactured abroad. By the way, before the sanctions were imposed, our sites also used equipment that was manufactured in Europe, in America," he said.

According to the ZNPP Director, it will be difficult to replace foreign equipment with domestic equipment, but the Russian Federation has everything necessary for that. Even if something missing for replacement is found, everything will be available soon, Chernichuk added.

In addition, he drew attention to the fact that at the moment at Zaporizhzhya NPP American fuel "stands in quite a large amount." According to him, this issue, which will also need to be resolved, "is part of the licensing process."

Chernichuk explained that during the three decades of Ukraine 's existence as a separate state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country's basis remained approaches to ensuring safety at nuclear power plants that are uniform for all and meet international requirements. However, he continued, each state introduced its own nuances in its work due to different circumstances. For example, recently the Kiev authorities' activities were aimed at "making Russian products considered imported, so import substitution there (in Ukraine. - Ed.) was moving in the diametrically opposite direction".

The director of ZNPP reported the day before that the licensing of power units of the power plant according to the legislation of the Russian Federation will take place in 2025-2028. By the end of this year it is necessary to obtain a license for operation of the first power unit.

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Earlier, on December 29, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, said that it is already necessary to prepare for the fastest possible launch of all six units of ZNPP, as soon as the situation allows. He added that the main task for 2025 is to ensure NPP safety, as well as to prepare the units for the generation mode.

Before that, on December 20, the 330 kV high-voltage power supply line Ferrosplavnaya-1 was disconnected at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) by the action of automatics. ZNPP representatives reminded that all units of the plant are currently suspended.

Zaporizhzhya region, where the nuclear power plant is located, became part of the Russian Federation following a referendum in September 2022. Since then, Zaporizhzhya NPP has been under constant IAEA control.