Update 229 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

 

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) temporarily lost the connection to its sole remaining 750 kilovolt (kV) off-site power line this afternoon due to a reported short-circuit, leaving it reliant on a single back-up line for more than three hours, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.

The disconnection of the 750kV Dniprovska line once again underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety and security situation at the ZNPP during the armed conflict. It occurred at 1:31pm local time around six kilometres away from the ZNPP’s 750 kV open switchyard, in Russian-controlled territory. The ZNPP informed the IAEA experts stationed at the site that it was caused by a short-circuit, without providing further details. The line was re-connected at 4:49pm, the plant said.

The event also amplifies concerns around attacks on the electrical power infrastructure elsewhere in Ukraine, as indicated last week, highlighting the risk to the ZNPP as well to the other operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the country. When the 750 kV line was disconnected, the ZNPP received external electricity from its only 330 kV back-up line and it is particularly vulnerable to such disruptions, as illustrated by today’s event. Before the conflict, the plant had four 750 kV and six 330 kV lines available.

“For Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to depend on one or two power lines is a deep source of concern and clearly not sustainable. Our concerns also extend to the operating NPPs across Ukraine, where a disruption to off-site power supplies could have very serious implications for nuclear safety,” Director General Grossi said.

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https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-229-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine