Russia builds power line in occupied Ukraine to restart Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – Greenpeace

A new report by Greenpeace states this.

The construction has been recorded west of Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region and northwest of Mariupol in the Donetsk region.

Satellite analysis conducted by Greenpeace, using high- and medium-resolution images from Planet, confirms the intentions of the Russian state corporation Rosatom to restart nuclear reactors at the ZNPP, which has been under occupation since March 2022. 

As of May 23, 2025, 90 km of the line had already been built, with 300 towers installed. Between May 11 and 22, 15 towers and over 5 km of power lines were constructed from the eastern part of Topolyne, north of Mariupol. The construction is expected to continue across the Kalchyk Reservoir by the end of May.

Greenpeace forecasts that the line will be extended another 100 km westward to occupied Melitopol, where it is to be connected to a 330 kV substation. In the east, the line will be linked to the 750/330 kV substation north of occupied Mariupol. The construction is coordinated by the Black Sea Regional Dispatch Office, the occupation branch of the Russian Joint-Stock Company “System Operator of the Unified Energy System” (SO UES), responsible for operational dispatching in Russia’s power grid.

Since January 2024, Greenpeace Ukraine has been warning of the dangers of Russia’s attempt to restart the ZNPP and has called for these illegal actions to be halted. The organization is also investigating the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in this situation, as it believes IAEA actions may be enabling Rosatom’s illegal plans.

“This is some of the first hard evidence of Russian moving ahead with its dangerous and illegal plans for restarting Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia. But the plant is the sole property of Ukraine and this further step towards a potentially disastrous operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors must be condemned. Russia and Rosatom must be stopped from its restart plans and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant must be de-occupied and returned to Ukraine,” said Shaun Burnie, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine.

Greenpeace Ukraine warns that Rosatom’s plans to restart the ZNPP reactors carry very serious nuclear safety risks. The key threats include:

• Worn-out equipment: after three years of occupation, the plant’s equipment is in deteriorated condition;
• Lack of experienced personnel: the plant is missing qualified staff;
• No backup power lines: there is only one external power line without redundancy, as the Ukrainian and Russian grids are not synchronized;
• Cooling system issues: lack of coolant circulation could lead to overheating and damage to the reactor core.

These factors could result in serious consequences, including radioactive contamination beyond the site.

“It is impossible for Rosatom to meet nuclear safety guidelines in seeking to restart ZNPP.  We have called on the IAEA Director General to make this explicitly clear to Rosatom and Russian government representatives in his upcoming meetings. The IAEA must stop signaling to the Russian government that there is any legitimate pathway for their restart of reactors at Zaporizhzhia. The IAEA must not in any way support preparations for Russia’s illegal restart of one or more nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia,” said Jan Vande Putte, nuclear expert at Greenpeace Ukraine.  

• Russian forces are continuing to build power transmission lines from the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, including through the Mariupol district.