A blackout at ZNPP has been going on for more than two days

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been in a blackout since September 23 due to the actions of the Russian occupiers.

This was reported by Energoatom.

ZNPP is forced to operate on diesel generators due to the loss of external power supply. This creates a critical situation that threatens the nuclear safety of not only Ukraine, but also European countries.

On September 23, Russian troops once again damaged the power line that fed the plant from the Ukrainian grid. That day, at 4:56 PM, the last power line that fed the plant from the Ukrainian grid was disconnected. This is the 10th blackout at the plant since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

According to “Ukrenergo”, this line is operational in the territory controlled by Ukraine. There are no technical obstacles to its use. Despite this, the occupiers deliberately do not connect the station to the power supply. Diesel generators are intended only for emergency power supply and are not capable of providing the stationʼs needs for a long time. Their shutdown could lead to loss of control over the nuclear safety of the facility.

What is known about the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP?

The Russians occupied the Zaporizhzhia NPP in early March 2022 and have been operating under their control since then. An IAEA mission has been at the station since September 2022. Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of the Russian occupiers from the station. Russia refuses to create a demilitarized zone at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

In September of this year, Putin stated that the Russian Federation is ready to cooperate with the United States and Ukraine on the issue of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. According to him, “if favorable circumstances arise, we have discussed this with our American colleagues, we can even work together at the Zaporizhzhia NPP”. Back in March of this year, the Russians stated that the Zaporizhzhia NPP is a Russian nuclear facility and that transferring control over it to Ukraine or any other country is impossible.

In April, Reuters published a US peace plan that proposed that Ukraine regain control of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The US would operate the plant and supply electricity to Ukraine and Russia. In response, Ukraine and the EU presented their own plan — in which Ukraine would regain control of the plant with the participation of the US, Russia is not mentioned in this issue.

Currently, ZNPP is connected to only one external power supply line.

“Energoatom” explained that if the only working line fails, it will mean that Zaporizhzhia NPP will lose external power supply to the station and will start emergency diesel generators. However, their resources are limited both in terms of operating time and the availability of diesel fuel. Thus, the launch of diesel generators means the beginning of the countdown to the start of nuclear fuel melting.

In addition, according to IAEA, the water level in the cooling pond at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has now dropped to 13.4 m and is approaching the critical level of 12 m — if the water level drops below this level, the cooling systems will stop working. All six reactors are currently in a cold shutdown state, and under current conditions it is impossible to safely start even one of them.

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