Ukrainian nuclear power plant without external power for over a week

Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southeastern Ukraine has been without off-site power for more than a week, the world's nuclear energy watchdog has cautioned.

Key points

• The plant, which Russia has occupied since 2022, is at present relying on emergency diesel generators, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated on Saturday.
• After Russia took control of the Ukrainian facility in March that year, the IAEA has had a permanent presence at the site since September 2022.
• In 2024, footage emerged of a fire in one of the power plant's cooling towers, prompting Ukraine to accuse Russia of nuclear blackmail.
• "The availability of diesel fuel is of paramount importance whenever a nuclear power plant loses off-site power, " IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi remarked.
• Earlier this month, a drone strike close to the plant killed one nuclear specialist and wounded 17, with Moscow asserting that Kyiv was behind the attack.

Notably, the plant, which Russia has occupied since 2022, is at present relying on emergency diesel generators, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated on Saturday.

In practice, the plant needs power to keep its six non-operating reactors cool and has only a 10-day diesel supply on site, the IAEA remarked in an official note.

For context, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has not had a delivery from an off-site storage facility in regarding six months but was supplied with diesel on Thursday and Friday from another off-site location, the IAEA stated.

For context, the Vienna-based agency is now trying to negotiate a local ceasefire to allow repairs to electrical lines.

Zaporizhzhia is Europe's largest nuclear power plant. It has not generated electricity since September 2022, over six months after Russia introduced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February that year, but the plant's reactors must be kept cool to prevent a meltdown of the fuel inside.

"This is the 27th blackout at the plant since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, " Ukraine's deputy head of military law enforcement, Gyunduz Mamedov, wrote on X on Saturday.

Both sides in the conflict regularly accuse the other of attacking the site. It sits on the banks of the Dnipro River and demarcates the front line in the sector.

On Friday, the IAEA remarked there had been three incidents that week with drones at the plant, injuring two employees. It did not say who introduced the drones.

Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly cautioned that Russian actions in and around the plant constitute nuclear blackmail against Ukraine and Europe more widely.

In short, ukrainian nuclear power plant without external power for over a week is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.