Off-site power to Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is being restored after a monthlong outage, officials confirmed Thursday — a development hailed as a vital step for nuclear safety.
Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk said the 750-kilovolt Dniprovska transmission line, which connects the plant to Ukraine’s power grid, has been repaired. Work is continuing on the 330-kilovolt Ferosplavna backup line, which passes through Russian-held territory.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the repairs were carried out under a local ceasefire, calling the restoration of external power “a key step for nuclear safety.” The agency noted that both Russian and Ukrainian forces cooperated to ensure the repairs could proceed safely.
“Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable the complex repair plan to proceed,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
Grynchuk said Ukrainian engineers have repaired the plant’s power lines 42 times since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. In that period, the facility lost external power 10 times, forcing reliance on emergency diesel generators.
The plant had been running solely on diesel backup since Sept. 23, when its last functioning external line was cut during attacks that Moscow and Kyiv blamed on each other. Although the plant’s reactors have been shut down, a stable power supply remains essential to cool the reactors and spent fuel, preventing potential nuclear disaster.
Grossi warned that frequent reliance on diesel generators — meant as a “last line of defense” — underscores ongoing risks. “As long as this devastating conflict goes on, nuclear safety and security remain under severe threat,” he said. “Today we had some rare positive news, but we are far from being out of the woods yet.”
