MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - Russia's Rosenergoatom company, the operator of Russian nuclear power plants, does not need any American technology in operating the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Renat Karchaa, advisor to Rosenergoatom's CEO, said on Wednesday.
"We don't need their technology, we have everything of our own. Moreover, our [technology] was tested a long time ago. We are actively building nuclear power plants, and in this sense, we don't need their technology," Karchaa said on the Rossiya-24 (VGTRK) television channel on Wednesday.
CNN reported earlier that the U.S. Department of Energy had warned Rosatom in a letter dated March 17, 2023, that the ZNPP "contains U.S.-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the United States Government" and that access of unauthorized persons to U.S. technology subject to export control was in breach of U.S. law.
Karchaa confirmed that Rosenergoatom had received the letter. "We did get this letter, but they [the U.S.] have turned down a negotiating format."
Karchaa also insisted that the U.S. applied the technology not at nuclear power plants themselves, but only at a Kharkov-based center that designs nuclear reactor cores.
The Zaporozhye NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, operates six VVER-1000 power units. Two of them are operational, but in hot shutdown mode only for heat supply. The plant has not produced electricity since September 11, 2022.
The NPP facilities have been transferred to Russian ownership, and the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant Federal State Unitary Enterprise has been established. The operator is the Operating Organization of the Zaporozhye NPP, which was established by Rosenergoatom, part of Rosatom State Corporation.
Several IAEA experts have been deployed at the NPP on a rotating basis since September 1, 2022.