Damage to ZNPP power line: IAEA responds
Kyiv • UNN
According to the IAEA Director General, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was left without the main power line for almost 5 hours, which emphasizes the constant risks to nuclear safety during the war.
Today, Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) lost contact with its last main power line for almost five hours. This once again emphasizes the continuing dangerous situation for nuclear safety during the war, said Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UNN reports with reference to the IAEA press service.
According to IAEA experts on the site, ZNPP stopped receiving power from a 750-kilovolt power line around 6:10 a.m. It was reconnected at 11:02 a.m.
It is noted that over the past two years, accidents have repeatedly occurred at ZNPP due to military operations at different distances from the site.
Before the war, Europe's largest nuclear power plant (NPP) had access to ten off-site power lines: four 750 kV lines and six 330 kV lines.
We are once again reminding you of the very real danger that Zaporizhzhya NPP and other nuclear power plants in Ukraine face every day as this destructive war continues. Once again, the situation with the power outage at Zaporizhzhya NPP is hanging in the balance
According to the IAEA, today's power outage comes after ZNPP postponed scheduled maintenance of some of the reactor's safety systems earlier this week due to the "general situation in the vicinity of the plant.
According to CEO Grossi, this is the second time in recent weeks that the plant has postponed some maintenance work at the site, raising concerns about nuclear safety.
"The world's attention is rightly focused on the risk of a strike at Europe's largest nuclear power plant or a loss of power from a stored site. But there are several other complex areas that we must continue to closely monitor to help prevent the risk of a nuclear accident, including maintenance, as well as staffing and spare parts availability. All of these are part of our deep concern for nuclear safety at the plant," said CEO Grossi.
