Zaporizhzhia Power Plant: Repairs begin after outage
Repair work has begun to restore off-site power to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) after a four-week outage, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced.
IAEA Director General Mr Rafael Grossi said that "both sides have engaged constructively" with the agency to allow the complex repair plan to proceed.
"Restoring off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security," Mr Grossi said.
The Ukrainian plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, requires external electricity to operate safely and has been dealing with a power outage lasting nearly four weeks.
The IAEA recently specified that the complex repair plan could only be implemented after a localized ceasefire. The work must be carried out by both sides of the front line, a few kilometres from the plant. Until the repairs are concluded, the plant is being supplied by seven emergency diesel generators—a situation the IAEA considers "untenable."
The agency did not specify how long the intervention will take but assured that the six nuclear reactors are currently safe, being efficiently cooled, and that the radioactivity level is normal. Before the conflict, Zaporizhzhia produced about one-fifth of Ukraine's electricity needs.
A Russian attack is said to have hit a high-voltage power line on 23 September, disconnecting the plant from Ukraine's electricity grid. The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest, is not currently producing electricity but is only operating on backup diesel generators, which ensure the electricity needed to maintain safety functions. This is the tenth and longest power outage at the plant since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
