Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – the biggest in Europe – was repaired on Sunday after shelling disconnected the facility from the grid and forced it to resort to emergency diesel generators, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
The UN nuclear watchdog said the 760-kilovolt line was reconnected to the plant on Sunday evening after Ukrainian engineers did the repair work. This allowed the plant to start switching off the generators that had initially been turned on to give it the power after the line was cut in the early hours of Saturday.
“Our team at Zaporizhzhia confirms the offsite power line lost yesterday was restored and ZNPP (the plant) is reconnected to the grid — a temporary relief in a still untenable situation,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi tweeted on Sunday.
Although the nuclear plant’s six reactors are in cold shutdown, they need electricity for crucial nuclear safety and security functions, including cooling, AFP reported.
Zaporizhzhia has been under the Russian powers for months, but operated by Ukrainian employees. Meanwhile, Grossi has spent weeks pushing for the establishment of a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the plant. The IAEA head was in Kyiv on Thursday to discuss setting up a protection zone around the nuclear plant that has regularly been a topic of blame game between Ukraine and Russia.
“A protection zone is needed now. I will travel to Russia and will see Ukraine’s (President Volodymyr) Zelensky thereafter to establish the zone,” Grossi added in his tweet on Sunday.
Zaporizhzhia is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has annexed in violation of international laws. He signed a decree on Wednesday declaring Russia was capturing the nuclear plant. Ukraine’s foreign ministry called the move a criminal act and termed the decree “null and void”.
Ukraine’s state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said it would continue to operate the nuclear plant.
