Ukraine has restored the second backup power transmission line to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The four main ones are still not working.
This was reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"This allows one line to provide the power plant with external electricity necessary for cooling the reactor and other important safety functions, while keeping the other in reserve," the message says.
The restoration of power transmission lines that were damaged by Russian shelling allows the power plant to be supplied with external electricity. Prior to that, the nuclear power plantʼs own needs were provided by power unit No. 6, the last of the six units of the ZNPP that continued to operate.
On September 10, the station managed to restore the first 330-kilovolt backup transmission line, which connects the ZNPP with the Ukrainian grid through the distribution point in Energodar. Thanks to this, ZNPP specialists stopped power unit No. 6 and began to transfer it to the currently safest state of "cold shutdown".
At the same time, the Director General of the IAEA, Raphael Grossi, emphasized that, despite the existence of two power transmission lines that provide access to the ZNPP to an external power source, the situation with nuclear safety and protection at the station, located in the war zone, remains unstable.
The IAEA once again emphasized the need to create a nuclear safety and protection zone at the ZNPP. The agency noted that Grossi had started preliminary consultations with the relevant parties, which he, in particular, announced at the IAEA Board of Governors on Monday.
- On September 1, the IAEA mission arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The head of the agency, Raphael Grossi, stated that six IAEA employees remain at the station. The agencyʼs delegation "saw everything it wanted to see at first." Grossi stated that he saw "remains of shells on the buildings — this means that the physical integrity of the objects was violated." However, the vast majority of the protection and safety systems at the station are in "relatively good condition".
- On September 5, four of the six representatives of the IAEA inspection team completed their work at the Zaporizhzhia NPP and left the site of the plant, two experts will continue their work at the ZNPP on a permanent basis. On the same day, the last line connecting the plant to the energy system of Ukraine was turned off at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
- On September 6, the International Atomic Energy Agency published a report on the results of its visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant: the organization confirmed that Russian military equipment was indeed located there, and called for an immediate cessation of shelling to avoid a disaster.