By Anastasia Lyrchikova
MOSCOW, March 13 (Reuters) - Russia intends to control the relaunch and operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant when it is safe to do so but it would be willing to discuss selling electricity to Ukraine, the head of its state nuclear corporation said on Friday.
The comments by Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev highlighted the gulf between Moscow and Kyiv on the status of the plant, which Russian forces captured in the first weeks of the war in 2022.
The fate of the plant in southern Ukraine is one of the key points at issue in peace talks. U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed American ownership or management of Ukrainian nuclear plants, including Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in December that the U.S. had proposed joint trilateral operation of the plant, with an American chief manager. He said Kyiv was proposing Ukrainian-U.S. use of the plant, with the U.S. determining how to use 50% of the energy produced.
PREPARATIONS TO RESTART OPERATIONS
The plant's six reactors are currently shut down and being kept cool to ensure safety, but Russia's Likhachev said preparations were being made to restart them when security conditions allowed.
He said Russia had issued operating licences for two of the units, a third was coming soon, and licences for the rest were also being prepared.
"We are ready to restart work, the necessary equipment is ready," Likhachev told reporters after a meeting with Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"As soon as the opportunity arises, we will begin starting up and operating the station under IAEA supervision," he said.
Likhachev described a scenario in which Rosatom would operate the plant but "commercial aspects can be viewed multilaterally".
"Under certain conditions there could be discussion of supplying electricity, including to Ukraine," he added.
With 6 gigawatts of capacity, the plant could also be used to power data centres, Likhachev said. "Here, we may well have new partners...we are talking about the United States, among others."
PEACE AND CALM NEEDED, GROSSI SAYS
Grossi told reporters: "We need peace, we need calm. No nuclear power plant can operate under the threat of any violent or kinetic act against it. But of course, you cannot start up a nuclear power plant overnight."
Throughout the war, Russia and Ukraine have been fiercely at odds over the plant, which lies near the front line in southern Ukraine, and have frequently accused each other of shelling it.
Likhachev said the quantity of artillery strikes, drone attacks and mortar fire had been increasing in recent months.
He welcomed Grossi's role in organising the latest ceasefire around the plant - the fifth so far - to enable repairs to external power lines that help to keep the nuclear material from overheating.
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
