The 750 kV Dneprovskaya power transmission line supplying the Zaporizhia NPP (ZNPP) has again been shut down, just three weeks after it was repaired following a month-long outage. “One of the two lines supplying the ZPP was disabled due to activation of automatic protection system,” the plant’s press service reported. The plant is currently only powered by the 350 kV Ferrosplavnaya-1 back-up line, which was also recently repaired after an outage of almost six months. Staff are monitoring the situation. When both lines were disconnected before the repairs, the plant operated for a month using diesel generators to provide essential power.
All six units of the ZNPP remain in cold shutdown but still require power for cooling and other key functions. Despite the latest disconnection, radiation background at the plant and in the surrounding area remains unchanged and does not exceed natural background levels. The ZNPP press service said the equipment is being serviced in strict accordance with all necessary technical regulations and under the supervision of radiation safety specialists, ensuring compliance with all established norms.
ZNPP Communications Director Yevgeniya Yashina told Ria Novosti, “The Dneprovskaya power transmission line has been disconnected from the Ukrainian side. We do not yet know the reasons.” She added that the diesel generators remain in a state of constant readiness, and there is sufficient fuel for their operation.
“The restoration of the Dnepro power transmission line depends on the Ukrainian side. The problem is on the other side, not on our side. We have no information about the terms and prospects of recovery, ” she added.
Meanwhile, the eleventh round of interdepartmental consultations has taken place in Kaliningrad between a Russian delegation led by Rosatom Director General Alexeyi Likhachev and an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation, led Director General Rafael Grossi. The Russian delegation included the head of nuclear utility Rostechnadzor Alexander Trembitsky; the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Russian Armed Forces, Alexey Rtishchev; as well as representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya).
Continuing a major conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rafael Grossi in September at World Atomic Week, issues related to ensuring nuclear security at the Zaporizhia NPP (ZNPP) were discussed.
Special attention was paid to restoring external power supply to the NPP after the repair of two high-voltage power lines – Dneprovskaya and Ferroalloy-1. Likhachev thanked Grossi and IAEA experts for their efforts to ensure a ceasefire Ukraine to allow the work to be carried out. The rotation on IAEA inspectors and holding joint events with Rostechnadzor at the ZNPP site were also discussed.
Likhachev said the level of interaction with the IAEA has been strengthening in recent months. “I can safely say that this interaction allowed us to survive a very difficult month from 23 September to 23 October, when, for the first time in human history, a huge nuclear facility was cut off from external energy supply for an entire month.” He thanked all the station employees and security forces who were guarding the facility during this difficult period, noting their heroism.
In turn, Grossi described the situation at ZNPP as “extremely dangerous” and called for preventing similar incidents in the future. “I would like to say that the direct attack that was made on the station and damaged the external power supply line is a very dangerous situation,” he told reporters after the meeting. “This has never happened in the entire history of commercial operation of nuclear power plants. It is all the more important that we managed to achieve the result of restoring first the Dnipro and then the Ferroalloy high-voltage lines in order to stabilise the situation.”
