Ukraine restores external power supply to Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Ukrainian power engineers reconnected the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to an external power supply on 7 September.

Source: Ukraine's state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom; Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Quote from Energoatom: "The auxiliary systems of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant were supplied with power from the 330 kV Ferosplavna-1 overhead line on 7 September at 19:02. The plant's current consumption is 11 MW."

Details: Energoatom said that external power had been restored thanks to Ukrainian power engineers and a local ceasefire, which allowed repair work to be carried out.

The IAEA also said the connection was restored following three days of repairs by Ukrainian engineers under the protection of a ceasefire coordinated by the agency.

Grossi noted that it is "a crucial step to help prevent a nuclear accident".

Restoring the external power supply after an outage lasting almost three weeks means that the ZNPP can once again get power to cool its reactors and spent fuel pools, as well as to support other essential nuclear safety and physical protection functions.

Energoatom noted that the ZNPP had been without external power since 20 August, with all of the plant's critical systems supplied by backup diesel generators during that time. The prolonged loss of external power had placed additional strain on the plant's safety systems.

Background: Energoatom previously said that the actual condition of the temporarily occupied ZNPP pointed to a continued erosion of fundamental nuclear safety principles.

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