Donald Trump has increased the chances of controlling Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, as part of their pressure to end Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
According to an American Red Out, the president told his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday that American skills could help handle plants, “the US -owned energy infrastructure could be” best protected “the country’s energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Wolodmeer Zelannsky later made it clear that his debate focuses on a facility currently under Russian control: Europe’s largest Zaporezia Nuclear Power Plant.
Three years after Russian troops captured the facility, after fearing a cheroco-style catastrophe in Ukraine, Trump’s proposal has returned it as a potential pillar of a peace deal-which tries to complete billions of dollars in US military aid.
How many Ukrainian plants are there?
Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, of which 15 have nuclear reactors, all of which have put pressure on Soviet design water units. Six of the reactors are in Zapurizia and has been closed since the Russian control.
The other nine reactors are in three plants under the Ukrainian control: Raven, Khamliniski and Pyodonnocrinisic. They are operational.
“There is no country in Europe other than France, which has a lot of units and such a developed nuclear industry in Europe,” Petro Cotton, chief executive of Ukraine’s state -run nuclear power company, told Petro Cotton last year.
Cotton said the Ukraine is also completing the construction of two new units on the Khilnasky site, and plans to build at least eight more with the aim of bringing the country’s overall 24 GHwatts to the country by 2050.
Does the United States own Ukrainian nuclear power?
This is unclear, but the call of Trump Zilnski’s call by Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Walts.
On the other hand, Zilnsky said that this debate would only help “recover” the plant with the joining of Zapirzia and the United States, after which there would be investment and modernization.
“I said just freeing the plant is not enough because it needs infrastructure – to ensure water supply, technical personnel and many other steps to ensure that the plant starts generating money and electricity.”
Addressing Oslo on Thursday, Zillsky was more clear: “All nuclear power plants belong to the Ukrainian people.”
He expressed his commitment that if the Zapurizia plant “does not belong to Ukraine, it will not work for anyone.”
Why is the Zapurizia plant so important?
About 650 km southeast southeast of Kiev is located in the city in front of Ener Hudar, and with a land bridge under Russia’s control, the Zapurizia plant produced 20 % of Ukraine’s already electric electricity.
“The occupation continues and this is a major problem for us because we have lost 6,000 MW of power capacity,” said Ergotom’s Cotton.
The supply of zipperzia will be very important for the recovery of Ukraine, when the demand for cheap, reliable electricity is likely to increase. Ukraine may also have the ability to export electricity to Europe.
But whatever the plant runs, it will need to re -establish a safe supply of water to cool and stor the first spent fuel. Under Russian control, a 2023 explosion in a dam eliminated the nearby basin, leaving the plants deprived of the desired water.
“The plant itself is in a very bad state, and every next day, this collapse increases,” Cotton said.
The reactors are in what is called “cold shutdown”, which means they are not generating electricity and are being cooled to keep them stable. This requires permanent surveillance and maintenance. Russia allows occasional inspection through the International Atomic Energy Agency, but Cotton said his access is limited.
Even two -thirds of the 11,000 energy -staffing crews do not work on the site or no longer work before the attack, Cotton said.
Does the Trump administration want more Ukrainian assets?
According to two Ukrainian officials involved in a contract with Washington on rare land and other raw materials, the Trump administration may try to use the plant to help extract the rare and critical minerals. The purpose of the deal was to sign earlier this month when Zillski and Trump met in the White House, but when the two leaders clashed at the Oval Office, the signing ceremony was abolished.
The latest proposal for the US president to control his power plants for Ukraine, which first dealt with minerals. Trump officials have suggested that US can serve as a form of protection at stake in key assets in the country. But Kiev is smart because it is less than security guarantees he is looking for from the United States.
How can I join the US?
The Westing House, a US nuclear power company, is already involved in Ukraine’s nuclear power sector. It created nuclear fuel assemblies that could be used in Ukraine’s Soviet -designed reactors when Kiev stopped buying Russian nuclear fuel in 2022, and was loading them into each unit.
The company is also creating a fuel manufacture line in Ukraine and has begun initial construction work for a new Westing House AP 1000 reactor in Khammalesisky.
“Khammalasky Eye will ideally be the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and Ukraine – bigger than Zapurizia nuclear plant – and units will be included in five and six Westing House technology,” said Ergotom’s Cotton.
Cartography by Jana Taushaski
