Russia asks UN agency to help solve question of US fuel at Ukraine nuclear plant

Russia asked the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Friday to mediate between Moscow and Washington to resolve the question of what to do with U.S. nuclear fuel stored at a Ukrainian power plant controlled by Russian forces.

Russia wants to restart the idled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which lies near one of the front lines of the war in Ukraine and once generated a fifth of Ukraine's electricity. The fuel question is one of numerous issues standing in the way.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Reuters this week that restarting it was currently impossible because of the lack of a stable power supply and water for cooling.

Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev said after meeting Grossi on Friday that Russia was willing either to use the fuel, supplied by U.S. company Westinghouse, or to remove it entirely and return it to the United States.

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Westinghouse and U.S. energy officials had previously raised intellectual property concerns with Russia in connection with the fuel issue, he said in televised comments.

State news agency RIA quoted Grossi as saying the IAEA was willing to mediate.

Russia and Ukraine have each accused the other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest, raising the risk of a grave accident.

Likhachev said Russia had prepared a "comprehensive plan" for the phased commissioning of the plant but it could only be implemented if all military threats were removed.

The facility was occupied by Russia in March 2022, shortly its troops entered Ukraine at the start of the war. It has six reactors, the last of which stopped generating electricity in September 2022.