Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) lost connection to its only remaining off-site back-up power line yesterday, leaving it once again precariously reliant on a single power source, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.
The IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) was informed by the ZNPP that the plant’s 330 kilovolt (kV) Ferosplavna 1 back-up power line was disconnected yesterday due to a short-circuit at approximately 16:00. The ZNPP confirmed that the Ukraine dispatcher had put the line under maintenance and that it was re-connected at 15:30 today.
The ISAMZ team was informed by the ZNPP that the cause of the short-circuit or the possible damage to the line is unknown. The team has confirmed that the line has been restored.
The latest outage follows reports of military activity in the region and beyond. The IAEA team have reported hearing explosions near the ZNPP over the past 24 hours.
“This all too often occurrence whereby Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is once again forced to rely on only one external source of electricity to maintain its essential nuclear safety and security functions underlines the vulnerability of this major facility,” Director General Grossi said. “This is not sustainable and it is essential that strengthened efforts be taken now to uphold the five concrete principles for protecting the facility.”
During the outage, the ZNPP was connected to its only remaining 750 kV Dniprovska line. Before the conflict, the ZNPP had four 750 kV and six 330 kV power lines available.