UN inspector says Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility is back on Ukraine’s grid

• Power supply to all six units of the Zaporizhzhia NPP has been re-established.
• The power lines used for electricity supplies from the grid were repaired and reconnection started Friday afternoon.
• Since the conflict in Ukraine in February, the plant has had many external power outages.

Two days after being completely cut off from off-site electricity due to shelling, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine now has access to external power, according to the director of the UN’s nuclear inspector on Saturday.

In a statement, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi reported “both external power lines used for electricity supplies from the grid were repaired, and reconnection started on Friday afternoon.”

“Power supply to all six units of the Zaporizhzhia NPP had been re-established, and the eight operating emergency diesel generators turned off and put into standby mode,” Grossi said, citing information he had received from the team of IAEA experts present at the plant.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in February, the Zaporizhzhia NPP has had many external power outages, necessitating the use of diesel generators while waiting for off-site electricity to become again available.

The UN nuclear watchdog chief said Saturday that “the repeated power outages all too clearly demonstrate the extremely serious nuclear safety and security situation this major nuclear power plant is facing.”

He acknowledged that “so far, the brave staff of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant have always managed to maintain the safe operation of the six units.”

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