Minister of Energy of Ukraine Svitlana Grynchuk and Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) William D. Magwood, on the sidelines of the “Roadmaps to New Nuclear 2025” Conference in Paris, discussed urgent nuclear safety risks in the region caused by russia’s ongoing shelling of Ukraine’s energy system. They also touched upon the current situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
Svitlana Grynchuk emphasized that international efforts are crucial to prevent a catastrophe. The first priority is the demilitarization of the plant.
“Ukraine is the only country operating nuclear facilities in wartime conditions. Together with Mr. William D. Magwood, we agreed that this experience must be recognized by the world and reflected by the NEA in international recommendations. We also addressed strengthening partners’ capacities, restoring expert potential, and rebuilding nuclear generation construction infrastructure,” Svitlana Grynchuk noted.
The Minister outlined Ukraine’s priorities for further development of nuclear energy: “We hope for NEA’s support of our initiatives. We already have a strong history of cooperation with the Agency. We are interested in strengthening interaction for the training of our specialists, ensuring cybersecurity of nuclear facilities, and establishing domestic nuclear fuel production in Ukraine.”
The Minister thanked Mr. William D. Magwood for the meaningful dialogue and the NEA for facilitating Ukraine’s integration into the global energy community and for supporting the country’s path to strengthening energy resilience.
