Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant cut off from Ukraine's power grid during overnight Russian attack
Vitalii Zaichenko, head of Ukrenergo, a Ukrainian national energy company, has said that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has been disconnected from Ukraine's power grid for more than an hour during a Russian attack on the night of 12-13 December after power transmission lines were damaged.
Source: Ukrinform, a Ukrainian news agency
Quote: "During the night-time attack, the Zaporizhzhia NPP operated on diesel generators for more than an hour. Only after an all-clear was given we managed to restore power to the nuclear plant from Ukraine's energy system."
Details: Zaichenko stressed that incidents such as this pose a danger to the whole of Europe. He reminded that the Zaporizhzhia NPP receives electricity from Ukraine's grid for its own needs, including cooling nuclear reactors.
Quote: "Fuel, even if it's not being used to generate electricity, must be cooled. Otherwise an uncontrolled nuclear reaction may start, leading to a release of radiation."
More details: Zaichenko added that during the latest attack the power lines supplying the plant have once again been damaged.
Background:
- Power outages have been reported in Odesa, Chernihiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Mykolaiv oblasts as a result of Russian attacks on the night of 12-13 December.
- The volume of projected power consumption restrictions had to be increased due to a large-scale Russian attack on 6 December.
- Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that the Zaporizhzhia NPP temporarily lost all external power on the night of 5-6 December.
- It has been reported recently that the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure at the Chornobyl NPP, built to contain radioactive material from the 1986 disaster, has been unable to perform its main safety function after damage caused by a drone.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said that there has been no consensus on the Zaporizhzhia NPP in talks on a ceasefire in Russia's war against Ukraine, but if the plant remains under Russian control, it will not operate.
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