The Zaporizhia region is shelled again and a line between the nuclear power plant and the Ukrainian power grid is damaged. This cuts the connection to the last reactor still in operation, which, according to the IAEA, produced electricity for “essential safety functions of the plant”.
The last reactor still in operation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which is occupied by Russian troops, has been shut down. This was announced by the Ukrainian state operator Energoatom via Telegram. The reason is a fire triggered by attacks that damaged a power line between the power plant and the Ukrainian power grid.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the last remaining main power line between the power plant and the Ukrainian power grid was only cut on Saturday – also after bombings in the zone. The connection to the power grid was therefore maintained via a reserve line.
According to the IAEA, the nuclear power plant originally had four main lines to the Ukrainian power grid. Three of them had been cut off “earlier during the conflict”. Most recently, according to the IAEA, only one in six reactors at the nuclear power plant was producing electricity “both for cooling and for other essential safety functions of the plant and via the power grid for households, factories and others”.
Two experts from the IAEA are currently in the power plant to monitor the security situation. Artillery fire on the power plant site, which had been increasing for weeks, had increased international fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of shelling the power plant site and the surrounding area. Zaporizhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, was captured shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early March.
