Wright on Newsmax: Zaporizhzhia Plant Monitored, U.S. LNG Backfilling Europe, Nuclear's Future Bright

Name: "Wright on Newsmax: Zaporizhzhia Plant Monitored, U.S. LNG Backfilling Europe, Nuclear's Future Bright"
Uploaded: 2025-03-21
Duration: 9 min 11 s
Description: "Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Newsmax's Greta Van Susteren on March 20, 2025 that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant's risk appeared low and monitored, that U.S. liquefied natural gas is supplying Europe after Russian pipeline flows stopped, and that nuclear power has a bright future. The transcript is Arabic-rendered auto-captions, paraphrased in translation."

March 21, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:09:11

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright joined Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren, who asked first about Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — Europe’s largest — currently operated by Ukrainians under Russian control. Wright said he did not know the plant’s current internal situation, judged the risk likely very low, noted it is monitored, and said safe peacetime operation would be more reassuring.

On pipelines, Wright recounted that Russia’s pipeline through Ukraine, which paid Ukraine between $800 million and $1 billion a year in transit fees, stopped on January 1 when the agreement expired, cutting Russian gas to Western Europe. He confirmed the United States is supplying Western Europe with liquefied natural gas in the gap.

Turning to nuclear power, Wright described its future as bright: a reliable source that provides electricity whether or not the wind blows or the sun shines and whether or not subsidies exist, and one that improves American life. He acknowledged the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl had damaged public perceptions, agreed nuclear plants take seven to ten years to build, and said nuclear energy is clean and has proven its safety record in the United States.

Why it matters

The interview connects the war’s energy map — a shuttered Russian transit pipeline and a contested nuclear plant — to the administration’s two commercial answers: American LNG for Europe now and a domestic nuclear build-out over the coming decade.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright joins Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren - March 20th, 2025”, 2025-03-21 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-03-21). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.

On this page

Chris Wright