No sign of preparations to restart Zaporizhzhia, IAEA official says
VIENNA, May 29 (Reuters) - There is no sign Russia is preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, an official from the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, after Ukraine complained about reports Russia was preparing to connect it to its grid.
Zaporizhzhia, which is held by Russia, is Europe's biggest nuclear power plant.
Its six reactors are shut down as war rages around it. The International Atomic Energy Agency has called for a ceasefire, after which measures to improve the water and external power supplies needed to cool nuclear fuel could be taken.
"Our teams continue to confirm there is no indication at the moment that there will be any active preparations for a restart of the plant now," the IAEA official said on condition of anonymity.
A Ukrainian official said on Wednesday his country had protested to the IAEA about reports that Russia is building power lines to connect the Zaporizhzhia plant to its own grid.
Yuriy Vitrenko, Ukraine's ambassador to the IAEA, told Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform that Kyiv sees any attempt by Russia to connect the occupied plant to its grid as a gross violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.
On Tuesday, the New York Times cited a new Greenpeace report which found that Russia had been building more than 50 miles (80 km) of power lines between the occupied Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters in March it could be possible to restart one of the plant's six reactors within months of a lasting ceasefire that is still proving elusive.
That would, however, require increasing the plant's supplies of water and external power. Water has been a concern since the plant's biggest source, the nearby Kakhovka reservoir, was emptied when its dam was blown up in 2023.
That led to wells being dug at Zaporizhzhia, which provide enough water to cool nuclear fuel in the reactors while they are shut down but not enough to do so if they are restarted.
"The plant lost its main source of cooling water, so the whole system cannot work as it was originally designed," the IAEA official said.
"The consumption of water is orders of magnitude higher (when the plant is operating) compared to cold shutdown. We don't see any easy, quick fix for it," they added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
7 minutes ago
- Times
Elon Musk tells Trump: You'd have lost without me — follow live
Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general, said that most US allies supported President Trump's demand that they invest 5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence and were ready to ramp up security spending even more. 'There's broad support,' Rutte told reporters after chairing a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday. 'We are really close,' he said, and added that he has 'total confidence that we will get there' by the next Nato summit in three weeks. European allies and Canada began to step up investments in their armed forces since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The stock price of Elon Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla has plummeted as his war of words with the president has burst into public view. Tesla shares were trading at $302 (222 pounds) at 1pm ET, down about 8 per cent from where they opened on Thursday morning. Sources close to Musk have said that his anger at the so-called 'big beautiful bill' was fuelled by the Trump administration's moves to remove subsidies for electric vehicles. The rapidly deteriorating relationship between Trump and Musk continues to play out on the tech billionaire's social media platform X. Trump said during the Oval Office meeting that he would have won the swing state of Pennsylvania without the estimated $280 million in campaign donations from the Tesla chief executive. Musk wrote in response: 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.' 'Such ingratitude,' he added. From Katy Balls in Washington Where President Macron of France put on a bold display when he met Trump in February — daring to interrupt him to correct the record on European aid to Ukraine — today Merz adopted a softly, softly approach. After giving Trump his grandfather's birth certificate, Merz let the president take centre stage as he criticised Elon Musk and talked up trade with China. The one point of light tension was on Russia-Ukraine, as Trump equivocated the two sides by saying: 'You're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.' Merz intervened gently to name Russia as the aggressor. The hope will be that he has more luck pushing this point in the private talks that follow the two leaders' display for the cameras. Elon Musk has responded in real time to criticism levelled at him by President Trump that he knew the tax and spending bill 'better than anybody'. 'False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it,' Musk wrote on X. Musk further denied Trump's assertion that his complaints were related to rollbacks of electric vehicle subsidies. He wrote: 'Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.' Trump has ended the press conference. The two leaders will now head to private lunch. Merz demurred when asked if he agreed with Trump's characterisation that the Russia-Ukraine war was akin to a playground fight between children. The German chancellor told Trump 'we are looking for more pressure on Russia' to end the war, and said he was the most important voice in the peace process. Merz implored Trump to 'look at the kids, the kids who have been kidnapped'. Trump said that the world would be 'amazed' by how tough he would be on Russia if the fighting continued. 'Remember this — they like to say I'm friends with Russia. I'm not friends with anybody,' he said. President Trump compared the war between Russia and Ukraine to 'two young children fighting like crazy in a park'. 'Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,' he added. He said he told Putin during a phone call yesterday that 'maybe you're going to have to keep fighting, suffering a lot'. 'You see it in hockey, you see it in sports, the referees let them go at it for a while,' he added. Asked about a deadline for imposing further sanctions on Russia, Trump said that the date was 'in my brain'. Merz agreed with Trump that Germany was 'looking for measures to bring this war to an end', and mentioned that tomorrow is the 81st anniversary of D Day. 'That was not a pleasant day for you?' Trump asked. 'This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship,' Merz replied. Trump said he expected President Putin to respond with force to the successful drone attack by Ukraine on Russia's bombing fleet last week. 'He got hit, he's been doing hitting,' said Trump. 'But he got hit hard. I don't think he's playing games.' Trump said that Merz 'feels the same way' about wanting to end the war. Trump said he was surprised by Elon Musk's reaction to his 'big, beautiful' tax and spending bill. 'Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody,' Trump said. 'He only developed a problem when he found out we were going to have to cut the EV mandate,' he added, referring to a subsidy that paid billions of dollars to Musk's electric car company Tesla. 'I'm very disappointed in Elon, I've helped Elon a lot,' the president added. Musk has called the bill a 'disgusting abomination' and lobbied Republicans in Congress to oppose its passing. Trump casually dismissed claims that the US would withdraw its troops from Germany, saying they would remain 'if they'd like to have them there'. There are about 35,000 active-duty US troops stationed in Germany. 'They're highly paid troops and they spend a lot of money in Germany,' Trump said. Merz has brought the president the framed birth certificate of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump. Friedrich Trump was born in Kallstadt, Germany, which was then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria before immigrating to the United States in 1885. The questions turned to domestic politics and Trump's order to open a criminal investigation into anyone who worked to hide Biden's mental decline from the public during his time in office. Trump said that Biden 'didn't have much of an idea what was going on'. 'He was never for open borders, he was never for transgender for everybody,' said Trump. Trump said that his interactions with Merz over the past few months had been both 'difficult' and 'good'. 'I've been dealing with the chancellor. He's a very good man to deal with,' said Trump. 'He's difficult, you wouldn't want me to say you're easy, right?' He said he hoped to make progress on trade and tariff negotiations with Merz. Trump characterised his 90-minute call with President Xi as 'very positive'. He said that the two countries had agreed to hold talks in the near future to reach an impasse over trade and rare earth materials. 'I'll be going there with the first lady at a certain point and he'll be coming here, hopefully,' he said. Trump's Oval Office meeting with Merz began with questions about his travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and a host African nations. Trump said that the ban was needed for security and terrorism concerns. 'We have thousands of murderers,' Trump told reporters. 'I hate to say this in front of the chancellor, but you have a little problem too. You have your own difficulties too.' Merz has arrived at the White House before the first meeting between the two leaders. Trump greeted the German chancellor with a friendly handshake at the door to the White House and the two leaders walked inside. Asked by a reporter if he had a message for the German people, Trump responded: 'We love the people of Germany.' Merz has struck a cordial tone in the lead-up to Thursday's Oval Office meeting, writing in a statement this week that the US was 'an indispensable friend and partner of Germany'. 'Our alliance with America was, is, and remains of paramount importance for the security, freedom, and prosperity of Europe,' the chancellor wrote. Those remarks stood in contrast to his posturing prior to his election as chancellor in May. In February, Merz said that strengthening Europe was his 'absolute priority' in order to 'achieve independence' from the US. The same month, he wrote on X that his impression was 'that Russia and America are finding common ground — over the heads of Ukraine, and consequently over those of Europe'. President Trump held a 90-minute phone conversation with President Xi of China on Thursday amid stalled trade negotiations between the two countries. The US president said the conversation had a 'very positive conclusion' and announced that the two countries would hold talks in the hopes of breaking an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals. 'Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined,' Trump wrote on his social media platform. Trump added that Xi had 'graciously' invited him and the first lady Melania Trump to visit China, and that he had reciprocated the gesture. The Chinese foreign ministry said Trump had initiated the call between the leaders. Over the years foreign leaders have gone out of their way to bear eye-catching gifts when they meet President Trump: a personalised golf club, a nativity scene made of mother-of-pearl, a gold-plated model of a jet fighter and a presidential aircraft worth an estimated $400 million. When Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, steps into the Oval Office on Thursday, though, he does so with the unusual advantage of bringing more or less precisely the thing Trump has asked for. Barely five months ago Trump's demands that his European Nato allies stump up 5 per cent of their GDP for defence were regarded by most national capitals as outlandish, at or beyond the worst end of their expectations. Yet now the yardstick is rapidly becoming a matter of orthodoxy in the alliance, and no member state has moved so far towards it in such a short span of time as Merz's Germany. • Read the full story here Speaking to German journalists before his meeting with Trump, the chancellor said he wanted to strengthen Berlin's relations with the White House. 'I am looking forward to the visit,' Merz said. 'We are well-prepared. Nato will be a major topic, as will trade and Ukraine. When we talk about German domestic politics [the right-wing AFD], I will use clear words. 'The chancellery will intensify bilateral talks.' Germany's spy agency, the BfV, has classified the Alternative for Germany party, of AfD, as a far-right extremist group, saying that the party has on several occasions attempted to 'undermine the free, democratic' order. Senior members of the Trump administration, including vice-president, JD Vance, have criticised the move, arguing that it undermines freedom of speech. The US has been engaged in a tariff tit-for-tat with the European Union since Trump's second term began in January. Trump has accused the EU of treating its largest trading partner 'very badly' and claimed that the bloc was created for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the US. The two sides began talks on a trade deal in April after Trump paused his so-called reciprocal tariffs. The US president then threatened to levy a 50 per cent tariff on European goods, saying the bloc wasn't moving fast enough towards a deal. Trump later delayed the tariffs until July 9. As talks appeared to be getting back on track, Trump said last week that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminium, including from Europe, to 50 per cent. An EU spokesman said the move added further uncertainty to the global economy and increased costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Merz's government is intensifying a drive that began under his predecessor Olaf Scholz to bolster the German armed forces and counter the looming Russian threat. In Trump's first term, he frequently singled out Germany for failing to meet the current Nato target of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. The White House is now demanding at least 5 per cent from its allies. Scholz set up a €100 billion ($115 billion) special fund to modernise Germany's military after years of neglect. Merz has endorsed a plan for all Nato countries to aim to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2032. Merz will be hoping to avoid the kind of Oval Office showdown that President Zelensky of Ukraine and President Ramaphosa of South Africa experienced in recent months. Asked about the risk of a White House blow-up, Stefan Kornelius, a spokesman for Merz, said the chancellor was 'well-prepared' for the meeting and that he and Trump have 'built up a decent relationship'. The two leaders have spoken several times by phone either bilaterally or with other European leaders since Merz took office on May 6.
BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Over 11,000 fewer pupils at private school this year
There were 11,000 fewer pupils at private schools in England this January compared to the same time last year, according to the latest school census figures, released on Thursday, come after the government removed a VAT exemption for private schools on 1 January.A government spokesman said the drop in pupils "remains firmly within historical patterns" and "shatters the myth" of a private school exodus. But private schools disagreed and said more pupils than expected were leaving the independent sector due to higher fees putting more pressure on parents. The figures from the census of all schools in England provide the first complete picture of what is happening in the independent sector after the new 20% VAT on fees was introduced at the beginning of the 582,477 pupils in England attended private schools when the census data was collected in January this year, down from 593,486 the year before - a drop of 1.9% (or 11,009 pupils). Overall pupil numbers in England have fallen slightly to just over nine million. There was a smaller drop (0.6%) in the number of pupils not at private school pupils now make up 6.4% of the total school population, a slightly lower proportion than last year, when it was 6.5%. This is the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic that independent school pupil numbers have fallen. The government had previously predicted that around 3,000 private school pupils would need to be absorbed into the state system this academic year, with state school places needed for around 37,000 private school pupils over the coming was an estimate of those who would be motivated to take their children out of private school as a direct result of its decision to remove the VAT exemption from private school fees, not taking into account any demographic changes. The census data does not give clear reasons as to why pupils have left private could include a shift in international students or a move to home-schooling which would not be reflected in the state school Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), a body which represents most of the private schools in the UK, suggested that VAT on fees was putting pressure on parents and was the reason behind the drop. She said: "More pupils have left than the government's own estimates. This outsized exodus should concern anyone who is interested in this tax on education as a revenue raiser."The ISC, which represents more than 1,400 private schools, previously said its annual census showed average school fees were 22.6% higher in January 2025 than they had been in January 2024. The government said the nearly 2% drop in private school pupils reflected "the broader demographic trends and changes in the state sector".A spokesman added: "Ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30 to help fund public services, including supporting the 94% of children in state schools, to help ensure excellence everywhere for every child."The Education Policy Institute, an independent education think tank, said it was "too early to see the full effects of adding VAT to private school fees" in this year's census data, given the policy was introduced in the middle of this academic year. They said it was also important to consider broader demographic trends in education. "As expected, today's statistics show an ongoing decline in primary school pupil numbers and the number of pupils in secondary schools is expected to peak over the course of this parliament," the institute the moment a population bulge in England is moving from primary schools into secondary schools, with a bigger drop off in primary age students compared to secondary. Overall student numbers are set to fall by 700,000 in England by reporting by Wesley Stephenson and Miguel Roca-Terry
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Ukraine's spectacular attack: 21st-century tactics still require support from allies
Since Donald Trump scolded Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the words 'You don't have the cards right now,' Ukraine has been keener than ever to demonstrate that it has a few up its sleeve. On Sunday it showed its hand with an extraordinary, audacious drone attack on multiple bases deep inside Russia, which it says damaged 41 aircraft. Operation Spiderweb, which saw the smuggled drones released from their hiding places in wooden sheds and remotely piloted to their targets, was swiftly followed by another attack on Crimea's Kerch bridge using underwater explosives. Kyiv – often coy in such cases – was unusually swift to claim both incidents, but has not taken responsibility for two railway bridge attacks which Russia says led to the deaths of seven passengers at the weekend. There is obvious satisfaction in hitting Russian bombers and surveillance planes used against Ukrainian civilians, and Spiderweb's unexpected method will surely force Russia to think harder about defence. But the greater significance lies in its potential impact on domestic morale and international support. Ukraine has repeatedly surprised both its enemy and its allies throughout this war. Unexpected successes such as the Kursk incursion have changed the narrative at critical moments. Meticulously planned, and reportedly 18 months in the making, the latest operation must make Russia wonder what else may be on the way. It was also spectacular enough to make Mr Trump pay attention. The US president reportedly judged the attack to be 'badass'. But his cosy phone chats with Vladimir Putin appear to be locking in his tilt towards Moscow. On Wednesday he said that, in a 'good' conversation, Mr Putin had said he would have to respond. It did not appear to have occurred to the US president that discouraging retaliation might be desirable. He should be challenging Kremlin talking points instead of amplifying them. If Ukraine hoped to dispel the nuclear spectre which Russia has repeatedly summoned up, Mr Trump seems to be still in its thrall – with some of those around him talking up the threat again. The Center for Strategic and International Studies argued in a report this week that Russia's military performance has been notably poor in this war, with gains coming at a strikingly high cost in terms of both equipment and personnel – hitting an estimated million casualties this summer. But Russia still has many more cards. It continues to grind out its advance, and in late May it launched its largest drone and missile assault on Ukraine to date. Its war of attrition may look old-fashioned compared with Kyiv's innovations, but it still hurts. Meanwhile, talks in Istanbul have produced agreement on a prisoner exchange but no movement towards peace. There appears to be growing support in the US Senate for further sanctions on Russia, but Lindsey Graham is unlikely to move without Mr Trump's acquiescence, and there is little sign of progress in the House. Pete Hegseth did not attend the session on Ukraine at Thursday's gathering of defence ministers ahead of this month's Nato summit – a telling absence, though the Pentagon blamed scheduling issues. Kyiv needs and deserves increased support from Washington, but damage limitation looks like a more realistic aspiration. Ukraine continues to surprise, and to shift its approach as circumstances demand. Unfortunately, there is little sign of the US president, capricious as he is, changing course on this conflict.
