“The occupiers won’t be able to take reactors with them. We will fix, complete, and repair all the rest...”

 Zaporizhzhia NPP has been occupied for more than two years. The nuclear power professionals who remained loyal to Ukraine have become internally displaced: they are looking for housing, working, learning new professions, and... waiting to return home to Energodar. What do they think about the restoration of ZNPP, how do they feel and what are they going through now? We are talking about this with those who remain employees of the world's first occupied nuclear power plant. The author has changed the names of all interlocutors. Many of them have relatives in the occupied territory, so publication in the Ukrainian media could harm them.

I

“What will happen to ZNPP? When we return, everything will be fine. I don't doubt it for a moment,” says Serhii, an engineer at the control room of Zaporizhzhia NPP. “The occupiers won’t be able to take reactors with them. We will fix, complete, and repair all the rest.” Serhii assumes that there are thousands of options for the development of events because the condition of the equipment is not known. He is most concerned about the fuel, which should be “burning up,” but it is not used, its service life is ending, and the russians cannot and do not want to discharge it.  “They don't care what happens to the fuel, they blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, and they can blow up nuclear power plant as well. The longer the plant is in their hands, the worse the consequences. The only condition is that the russians get out of our plant and out of our country. Then I will immediately go to Energodar and work on restoring the NPP. I know that the same thoughts prevail among my colleagues.” 

II.

Before the full-scale invasion, Maryna used to work at ZNPP as an engineer and was promoted to the position of deputy manager. Now she works as a metalworker at one of Ukraine's nuclear power plants. “I missed my job, my home, my team. However, I am sure that after the de-occupation everything will be different, we will not be able to return to the environment that was before the great war. And this is good because those who turned out to be traitors will disappear from our lives. Yes, now I work in the lowest position, I need it first morally, in order not to let negative thoughts consume me. A nuclear power plant is a certain discipline. After two years of waiting, I decided I could not sit in my apartment and scroll through the news feed. I have to work; I have to read instructions, study, that is, restore the habits I had before the war.”

III

Ruslan used to work in the energy repair department of ZNPP. Now he works on business trips at nuclear power plants in the territory controlled by Ukraine.  “My wife and children are abroad. I want to come back to Energodar and have my family reunited. I do not rule out that de-occupation may take place in a few years. And all this time I need to adjust and lead a kind of nomadic lifestyle. At the same time, I realize how difficult it is for our defenders on the front line. I constantly communicate with my colleagues who are at the front, we unite with other nuclear workers, cover their needs, order the necessary equipment, and when we deliver goodies, we support them as much as we can. I see that those who have lost their homes, who know what a russian boot is like in your house, do not hesitate to donate, do as much as necessary and for as long as necessary. And if someone thinks that this trouble will bypass them, that they will not be affected by the war, they are deeply mistaken, it does not work that way. We are all in the same boat, and we need to get involved, and the sooner the better. But I am confident that Ukraine will win and our return is a matter of time.” 

IV

Svitlana was lucky to find a job similar to the one she held at ZNPP.  “It seems to me that when we return to Energodar and to work at ZNPP, I will never want to take a vacation again because I have been deprived of this very job I love for too long. During these two years, I managed to work as a salesperson, realtor, and call center operator. I am not complaining. I have a large family; I received 2/3 of my salary from NNEGC (the ZNPP employee support program) and had a second job. Now I feel in my place again. And this makes me want to go home even more. I recently read a book about the Crimean Tatars and thought that we are very similar even though the russians forcibly evicted them from their homes, half a century later, they returned to the land of their ancestors and started living from scratch. I have no illusions – the russians can destroy Energodar and irreparably damage the nuclear power plant, and they can do it only to annoy us. But I very clearly imagine our return and believe in the good, it makes me feel better.”                         

V

Oleksandr lives in occupied Energodar – the occupiers blocked his access permit to the ZNPP long ago, while signing a contract with rosatom he considers a betrayal. He lives with his elderly parents and tries to become invisible. “Not to attract the attention of the occupiers is my task every day. I do something that I consider useful for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and thus justify my existence alongside these scum who have taken away our normal life. Being here in Energodar, I am always looking for a mention of ZNPP in the news, because the worst thing is to be forgotten. All talks that the separatists stayed, that everyone who wanted to leave left. This is nonsense. Just expressing your pro-Ukrainian position in an occupied town is suicide. That is why people like me try not to stand out. However, we see everything. We remember everything. Not a single sellout will remain at the power plant after liberation from occupation. And the liberation will be imminent. I will wait for it.”  

VI. 

After leaving the occupied Energodar, Maria got a job in Kyiv at the Head office of Energoatom and works in her specialty. “When people learn my story, they say that my family and I should stay in Kyiv and give up hope of returning. They say that there is no point in recapturing Energodar, as the russians are holding on to it too tightly. Therefore, we should leave them the plant and the town and start living from scratch. They say that the country has been living without ZNPP for three years and nothing has happened, they have adjusted. I hate these conversations. It is easy for people to give away what does not belong to them. Some people also believe that russians did not occupy their town because they are patriotic and love Ukraine, while Energodar residents were not, they spoke mostly russian, and we have many people from russia, so it was easy for the russians to conquer us. I will say to those who think this way, thank God, you were lucky, but small thanks to you. If it were not for the Armed Forces, there would be russians in your house, even though you are such patriots and speak Ukrainian from the cradle. My husband is a second-generation nuclear power professional; he has been fighting since the first days of the full-scale invasion. It is thanks to him and his sworn brothers and sisters that you live in Ukraine. I am not proving anything to anyone, I only know one thing – there will be a victory and ZNPP will be ours.”

 We are living in a turbulent historical era, but we do not know how this story will end. We can only be responsible for ourselves, for doing our best to win. Ukrainians have long known that unity and support are an irresistible force, so we must focus on what unites us. Zaporizhzhia NPP will survive, and so will Energodar residents!