Blackout at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant: IAEA announces the beginning of power supply restoration

The process of restoring external power supply has begun at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is temporarily occupied by Russians. About this reported director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi.

According to the official, the process was launched after "frequent contacts" with Ukraine and Russia in recent weeks.

The IAEA director general has been negotiating with Kyiv and Moscow on concrete proposals to provide the plant with the external power supply needed to cool the six shutdown reactors and spent fuel.

According to the IAEA, the main focus was on creating the necessary safety conditions for repair work on the damaged sections of the Dniprovska (750 kilovolt) and Feroplavna-1 (330 kV) power lines located on both sides of the front line near Zaporizhzhia NPP.

"After intensive consultations, the process of restoring external power supply through the Dniprovska and Ferosplavna-1 lines has begun," Grossi said.

The official said that although it will take some time to restore ZNPP's connection, Ukraine and Russia are "constructively cooperating" with the Agency to do so.

Earlier, on October 8, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Ukraine has offered to repair power lines simultaneously to restore power to Zaporizhzhya NPP on both sides of the frontline.

"Who is against it? But the Russians are against it, they don't let us repair it, they shoot at us," the head of state said at the time.

• On September 23, the Ministry of Energy reported that the tenth blackout occurred at Zaporizhzhia NPP since the beginning of the occupation. The station was switched to diesel generators.

• This is the longest time the facility has been operating in this mode. The Deputy Minister of Energy noted that the generators and the plant itself are not designed for this.

• On October 7, the IAEA recorded numerous attacks in the immediate vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that these actions are a deliberate provocation by Russia.