Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Loses Its Last Outside Power Line
It is the 27th total loss of grid power at the Russian-held plant. Backup diesel lasts about two weeks, and the IAEA does not know what caused the outage.
Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost its only remaining connection to the power grid early Sunday, the Ferosplavna-1 line. It now relies on emergency diesel generators to cool its reactors and keep safety systems running.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi called it the 27th total loss of off-site power of the war and described the nuclear safety situation as "precarious." The agency does not know what caused the disconnection or where it happened.
Officials installed by Moscow to run the plant blamed an "automatic protection" system.
At current consumption, the generators' diesel lasts about two weeks. Dniprovska, the plant's other main line, had been down for some time: the IAEA reported it on Oct. 23.
Zaporizhzhia is Europe's largest nuclear plant and has been in Russian hands since March 2022. Its reactors are shut down, so it generates no electricity, but the nuclear fuel still needs constant cooling. That is why every total blackout raises alarm, even with generators running.
Kyiv and Moscow blame each other for the outages. The IAEA keeps a permanent team at the site, and the window to reconnect the line before the diesel runs out is about 14 days.
