External power to Zaporizhzhya NPP restored, but situation precarious, says IAEA director
The NPP employee stressed that the situation remains "unreliable" (Photo:REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
External power to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has restored, but the situation at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant remains precarious, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said on Oct. 12.
“I've been informed by our team on site that external power to Zaporizhzhya NPP is restored,” Grossi wrote on Twitter.
Referring to ZNPP's operator, Grossi explained that this morning's outage was caused by shelling damage to a far-off sub-station. He highlighted how “precarious” the situation is.
“We need a protection zone as soon as possible,” he added.
Early it was reported Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia NPP has lost all of its external power for the second time in five days. The outage was caused by Russian shelling, Energoatom stated.
Russian shelling overnight on Oct. 8 damaged the last external power line of ZNPP, and the plant was completely shut down in the aftermath. Ukrainian specialists have repaired the damaged high-voltage power line connecting the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP to the Ukrainian grid.
Russian invasion forces took control of the nuclear power plant, near the town of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, on March 4. The Russian military has since been using the plant as a firing position for artillery attacks on nearby Ukrainian towns and cities, shielded by the fact that Ukraine cannot return fire for fear of damaging the plant and its nuclear reactors.
There were reports, later confirmed, that Russia had placed military vehicles within the plant, even in one of the reactor turbine halls, and there have been unconfirmed reports that mines have been placed close to some of the plant’s six reactors.
Ukraine has expressed fears that the Russians may use the plant to commit an act of nuclear terror.
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