The leader of Ukraine and the head of the United Nations’ nuclear agency have raised concerns regarding safety issues at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which is under Russian control in southern Ukraine. The facility has been without an external power source for over a week as the conflict continues to intensify in the surrounding area.
Emergency diesel generators are supplying electricity to essential cooling systems for the facility’s six reactors that are not in operation, along with the spent fuel. There is no immediate threat to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, stated the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi.
But “it is evidently not a viable scenario concerning nuclear safety,” he stated.
The emergency power units have not been required to operate for such an extended period, noted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The power plants and generators were not built for this,” Zelenskyy stated in remarks late Tuesday, calling the situation “critical.
Zelenskyy accused Russian artillery of damaging the power line at the Zaporizhzhia plant, while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed it was caused by Ukrainian shelling.
Peskov stated to journalists on Wednesday that it was “foolish to blame the Russian side for shelling the facility it manages.”
Grossi mentioned that the emergency generators at Zaporizhzhia were managing the additional pressure up to now.
“The reactor units and spent fuel are currently in a stable condition provided the emergency diesel generators can supply enough power to sustain critical safety functions and cooling,” he stated in a release late Tuesday.
An IAEA team at the facility stated that it has fuel stocks that allow the generators to function for over 10 days, with consistent external deliveries keeping this supply level maintained.
“Still, it is crucial that off-site power is brought back,” Grossi stated, mentioning that he was communicating with Russian and Ukrainian authorities on ways to quickly reconnect the facility to the grid.
Caught in the crossfire
With Russia’s large-scale invasion still ongoing throughout the Ukrainian countryside, the Zaporizhzhia plant has repeatedly found itself caught in the middle of the conflict.
It experienced its 10th loss of off-site power during the conflict on 23 September, as its last remaining power line was damaged by military operations approximately 1.5 kilometers from the facility, according to the IAEA statement.
Eight emergency diesel generators are active, with nine more units on standby and three undergoing maintenance, as reported by the IAEA.
It mentioned that during the last week, the plant has been switching between using the generators and maintaining the ones that are not in operation, aiming to maintain uninterrupted availability.
Zaporizhzhia is among the top 10 largest nuclear power stations globally, and its condition during the conflict has raised concerns about a possible nuclear disaster.
Russian troops captured it in the initial days after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Ukraine operates four nuclear power stations, with Zaporizhzhia being the sole one under Russian control.
Concerns over the plant’s safety have intensified wider anxieties about the war’s trajectory, which continues without any indication of conclusion following a US-backed initiative this year that failed to halt the conflict.
