IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that the latest, tenth blackout at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP was the longest lasting in the years of the war.
“Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has been without external power for more than a week now, which is by far the longest lasting such event during more than three and a half years of war. While the plant is currently coping thanks to its emergency diesel generators – the last line of defence – and there is no immediate danger as long as they keep working, it is clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety”, he said.
The IAEA Director General noted that power supply to the ZNPP must be restored as soon as possible: “All efforts must be made to prevent a nuclear accident from occurring.”
Rafael Grossi warned that in case of a complete blackout with no off-site power and no EDGs operating, the nuclear fuel could melt if power could not be restored in time.
For its part, Ukraine has expressed its readiness to repair the backup power line, provided that the russian military guarantees its safety.
As a reminder, on September 23, due to another provocation by the russian military, the power line supplying the Zaporizhzhia NPP from the Ukrainian power grid was damaged. For the eighth consecutive day, diesel generators have been powering the plant.
