Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant regained external electricity on Sunday after a grid disconnection forced it to use emergency diesel generators for reactor cooling and essential safety systems, Ukraine’s state nuclear operator Energoatom said. The restoration followed what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) described as the plant’s 27th complete loss of external power during the conflict.
Energoatom said the 330-kilovolt Ferosplavna-1 line had been reconnected. The IAEA said on 6 November that further work was needed before the Dniprovska line could be reconnected, and Energoatom warned that safety risks remained even after the Ferosplavna-1 line was restored. Russian forces have controlled the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, since March 2022.
The blackout was the latest in a series of power losses at the plant as Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s energy grid intensified over the weekend. On Saturday, Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones at Kyiv and the surrounding region, damaging substations that link the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine. More than 600,000 people were left without electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk region alone.
A plant running on generators
When external power is lost, the Zaporizhzhia plant relies on emergency diesel generators to keep reactor cooling and essential safety systems running. The IAEA has repeatedly warned that repeated losses of external power at the plant pose a serious nuclear safety risk, and has called for the plant’s power supply to be protected.
The restoration of grid supply does not end the risk. Energoatom warned that safety risks remained, and the IAEA said further work was needed on the second line. The plant has now lost all external power 27 times during the conflict, a figure that underlines how exposed Europe’s largest nuclear facility remains to the fighting around it.
The blackout came as Russian strikes damaged energy infrastructure in nine Ukrainian regions, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with emergency outages in many cities. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city’s water supply system was back to operating normally by Saturday and that around 60% of the capital’s apartment buildings had been reconnected to heating.
Talks approach
The power restoration comes a day before US, Ukrainian and Russian teams are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 November for the first trilateral peace talks since February. Zelenskyy has accused Russia of ramping up attacks to “pressure” Kyiv at the talks, and has urged allies not to delay deliveries of Patriot interceptors.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had struck power substations in the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions, claiming the facilities supplied electricity to Ukraine’s defence industry. Ukraine’s energy ministry said the attacks damaged networks carrying electricity from the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central regions.
Related coverage: Russian Strikes Leave 600,000 Without Power in Eastern Ukraine ; Kyiv Bridge Hit as Russia Fires 36 Missiles Overnight
