Henry Sokolski
In all the peace proposals the United States, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine have made public, one item always shows up: the reopening of the damaged six-reactor Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant—Europe’s largest. The United States wants to rebuild and operate it. Russia insists the plant is theirs. And Ukraine says that it must remain Ukrainian. But lost in this contest over who will control the plant—which sits at the frontline of the war between Russia and Ukraine—is just how difficult, or even worthwhile, it will be to repair and restart the plant.
Given how costly and technically challenging bringing Zaporizhzhia back online will be, it is unclear if any of these parties are up to the task. Russia insists it can get at least one of the reactors up and running within several months. The United States has put no timestamp on revitalizing Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine says, if there is a solid peace and Ukraine has total control over the plant, getting all six reactors back online would still take up to two years.
It could take considerably longer to reopen Zaporizhzhia. And no one has ventured how much it would cost.
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