The Zaporizhia NPP (ZNPP) has lost all off-site power for the tenth time since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The incident once again underlines the extremely fragile nuclear safety and security situation at the plant, IAEA Director General Grossi said.
The IAEA team based at ZNPP reported that the plant confirmed the disconnection from its last remaining 750kV external main power line. Following this power loss, the team observed that emergency diesel generators (EDGs) started operating to supply the plant with power – ZNPP later confirmed that all available EDGs had started.
ZNPP has been reliant on one single off-site power line to power the pumps used to cool its six reactors and their used fuel, almost five months after it lost the connection to its last 330 kV back-up power line in May. ZNPP last faced a complete loss of off-site power on 4 July when the plant relied on diesel generators for almost four hours. Following that loss of power, the IAEA team was informed that the EDG fuel tanks had been replenished with enough fuel to enable operation of emergency diesel generators for approximately 20 days, in case of another off-site power loss.
ZNPP Director of Communications Evgeniya Yashina told RIA Novosti that Ukraine was responsible for the external power loss. “It was the shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine that caused the shutdown of the only power line supplying the plant,” she said. “I cannot yet say anything about the timeline for restoration, as our teams are currently working on this issue.” She added that the transfer to emergency diesel generators is a standard procedure for any nuclear facility.
“The situation is currently fully under control,” she emphasised, noting that the fuel for the backup diesel generators will last for 20 days, which is significantly longer than the regulatory requirements. She said plans for the prompt delivery of additional fuel in case of need had been developed and was ready for implementation. “Thus, we have a multi-level security system that makes the probability of a negative development of events extremely low.”
The following day, Yashina, told TASS that Ukrainian forces were continuing to intensively shell the area of the damaged high-voltage power transmission line. She said she could not say when the line would be restored because the situation was being complicated by the ongoing shelling.
