Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant now running on just one power line - IAEA
Photo: IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
The situation at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains extremely unstable. The plant is operating on only one power transmission line, while before Russiaєs full-scale invasion, there were ten, stated IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
According to Grossi, the back-up 330 kV line has been damaged since May 7, and there is currently no information about when it might be restored. As a result, the entire six-reactor plant is dependent on a single functioning 750 kV line, which powers the nuclear safety and fuel cooling systems.
"Even though the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant has not been operating for some three years now, its reactor cores and spent nuclear fuel still require continuous cooling, for which electricity is needed to run the water pumps. For this reason, the highly vulnerable power situation remains deeply concerning, and we are following it very closely," said Grossi.
The Agency noted that Grossi plans to visit Kyiv and Moscow next week as part of ongoing dialogue with both sides to ensure nuclear safety during the war.
IAEA experts, who are permanently stationed at the Zaporizhzhia site, inspected water levels in 12 spray cooling ponds last week, as well as two fresh nuclear fuel storage facilities. No nuclear safety violations were found.
At the same time, according to the IAEA, military activity was observed near the plant almost daily over the past week.
Situation at ZNPP
The situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains tense. Russian forces seized the facility in March 2022 after occupying the satellite town of Enerhodar. Later, the Russian forces mined auxiliary buildings and placed military equipment on site.
All reactor units were eventually placed in a cold shutdown state. Over the three years of full-scale war, the plant has repeatedly lost its internal power supply due to damage to power lines caused by Russian attacks.
According to Energoatom, the current technical condition of the Zaporizhzhia plant does not allow it to be restarted.
Recently, The New York Times reported that Russian troops are building new power lines in the temporarily occupied territories of southeastern Ukraine.
Data collected by Greenpeace, along with satellite imagery, shows newly constructed power lines and towers between the occupied Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov. These structures appeared after February 2025.
According to Greenpeace, this proves that Moscow is preparing to restart and operate Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which has been shut down since the invasion. The IAEA has expressed concern about this possibility.
More details on Russia's potential plans for the Zaporizhzhia plant are available in the material by RBC-Ukraine.
