Off-site power supply to Russia’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest facility of its kind, has been restored after a 30-day disruption, the plant’s management announced on Thursday.
Although the plant’s reactors remain in a cold shutdown state, electricity is still required to maintain operational safety. The outage began in late September after a Ukrainian strike severed the last remaining high-voltage transmission line, forcing the facility to switch to on-site diesel generators.
According to the statement, engineers have successfully reconnected the Dneprovskaya power line, while repairs on another grid connection that was damaged in May are ongoing. The plant described the incident as “unprecedented in the history of nuclear power,” noting that no other station has operated on emergency power for such an extended period.
The management expressed gratitude to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for mediating with Ukrainian representatives to secure the ceasefire necessary for the work to proceed.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk confirmed that the Dneprovskaya line had been restored but blamed Russia for the initial damage in September.
Located in the city of Energodar, the plant is situated in Zaporozhye Region, which voted to join Russia in 2022 – a decision not recognized by Kiev or its Western backers. Russian officials have repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the area around the facility, calling such actions reckless and extremely dangerous.
The IAEA maintains observers at the site but has refrained from assigning responsibility for the attacks, a stance Moscow says encourages further provocations by Ukrainian forces.
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