
The US Treasury Department has added the Zaporizhia NPP (ZNPP), to its list of sanctioned Russian entities and individuals. ZNPP has been under Russian control since March 2022. The following September, the Zaporozhye Region voted to join Russia in a referendum that was not recognised by the US, which continues to refer to the plant as Ukrainian.
Earlier in January outgoing US administration imposed sanctions on more than 200 entities and individuals involved in Russia’s energy sector including officials of Rosatom, including Director General Alexey Likhachev and individuals that “ enable Rosatom’s involvement in Russia’s nuclear weapons complex and defence sector, nuclear power plant construction exports, development of advanced technologies and materials, non-uranium extractive industries and associated businesses, and malign activities including the occupation of Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant”.
US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, announcing the expanded sanctions, which include Vladislav Isaev, Vladislav Isaev, who was appointed General Director of the Zaporizhia NPP Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSUE) in April 2024. The extended sanctions “aim to curtail Russia’s access to revenue and critical goods”.
However, the operation of ZNPP is expected to remain unaffected. “The safe operation of Zaporizhia NPP and the work of its personnel will not be affected in any way by its inclusion in the US sanctions lists,” said plant spokesperson Evgenya Yashina in a statement to TASS.
In his latest update on the situation, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the general situation around ZNPP remains precarious, with the IAEA team stationed at the plant reporting multiple explosions occurring each day, including some at both near and medium distances from the plant.
Challenges with external power supplies persist at ZNPP. The plant’s last remaining 330-kilovolt (kV) power line was disconnected for several hours on 12 January for maintenance. Meanwhile, the IAEA team was informed that repairs to the voltage stabiliser for the ZNPP’s 750-kV power line – previously disconnected due to the activation of a protection mechanism – had been completed, and it was successfully reconnected.
Additionally, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to ZNPP (ISAMZ) team was informed about the maintenance of several of the reactor safety systems. Maintenance activities were carried out on safety trains in unit 2 and unit 6, and work has commenced on a safety train in unit 4 and on one of the emergency diesel generators (EDGs) that are designed to provide on-site power, in case of a total loss of off-site power.
“Despite the challenges from nearby ongoing military activity, the IAEA team has continued to conduct regular walkdowns across the ZNPP site,” the Agency said. They visited the main control room of each unit and made note of staffing levels, checked fuel levels in the EDGs at unit 6, and witnessed the change of the spent fuel pool cooling pump from one safety train to another in unit 6.
The team also visited the cooling pond area, including in the vicinity of both cooling towers – one of which sustained damage in August 2024 – an area where the team was previously denied access. ISAMZ also performed a walkdown of the turbine hall of unit 2 and was once again denied access to the western part of the hall. The team also visited the temporary on-site emergency crisis centre, where they discussed the draft emergency preparedness and response plan, as well as the planned emergency response exercise to be held in 2025.