Zaporizhzhia: Power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine has been restored after a month-long blackout which the UN nuclear watchdog said further raised concerns about the 'fragile nuclear safety and security situation' at the facility.
According to Anadolu Agency, a statement by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was reconnected to Ukraine's electrical grid following repairs carried out during a local ceasefire negotiated by the agency and observed by the watchdog's teams on the ground.
Grossi was quoted as saying that the restoration of power supply at the facility marked a 'significant positive step' amid the outage, which he said 'further stoked concerns about the fragile nuclear safety and security situation at the site.' He also remarked that despite this positive development, the overall situation remains precarious.
The IAEA chief detailed that the 750 kilovolt (kV) Dniprovska power line was fully reconnected to the facility and that the last of the emergency diesel generators powering the plant for the past month was turned off. Grossi expressed gratitude to the technicians from both the Russian and Ukrainian sides for their efforts in restoring power under challenging conditions.
Grossi emphasized the need for further actions to mitigate the risks of a nuclear accident, including the completion of repairs to the Ferosplavna-1 power line and preventing future power losses. The restoration was confirmed by the Russian-installed management at the plant and Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk.
The blackout, which began on September 23, was the 10th and longest outage at the plant since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022. Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of causing the outage, adding to the tensions around Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
The Zaporizhzhia plant has been under Russian control since March 2022, with IAEA personnel present on-site since September 1, 2022, as concerns remain about potential nuclear disasters due to ongoing hostilities between Moscow and Kyiv.