Power Outage at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Resolved After Hours of Disruption

All external power lines supplying electricity to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine were knocked out for several hours on Friday, the UN nuclear watchdog reported. Fortunately, the plant’s management later confirmed that power had been restored.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, acknowledged that power was back after three and a half hours. However, he warned that nuclear safety “remains extremely precarious in Ukraine,” emphasizing ongoing risks.

Ukraine’s energy minister attributed the outage to Russian shelling that severed the last power line to the plant and its six reactors. The country’s power distribution operator said technicians acted swiftly to restore the line. During the outage, the plant shifted to running on diesel generators, as it is not operating normally but still requires power to keep its nuclear fuel cool.

The IAEA has repeatedly warned about the potential for a catastrophic accident at Zaporizhzhia, which is situated close to the front lines of the ongoing conflict. Although the reactors are shut down, the nuclear fuel inside them must be continuously cooled, necessitating reliable power sources.

The plant’s Russia-installed management issued a statement on Telegram, confirming the high-voltage line had been restored. They reported no disruptions to operations, no security violations, and no abnormal increases in radiation levels.

Earlier, the IAEA noted this was the ninth time during the conflict that Zaporizhzhia had lost all off-site power and the first since late 2023. It stated that the plant is currently relying on emergency diesel generators, highlighting the extremely fragile nuclear safety situation.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galuschenko confirmed on Telegram that a Russian strike had cut off the power line, stating, “The enemy struck the power line connecting the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant with the integrated power system of Ukraine.” Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s high-voltage line operator, said its specialists quickly brought the line back into service.