Ukrainian nuclear power plant without external power for over a week
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- Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has been without off-site power for more than a week and is running on emergency diesel generators, the IAEA said Saturday.
- IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the plant has only a 10-day diesel supply on site and called fuel availability "of paramount importance" whenever a nuclear plant loses off-site power.
- Ukraine's deputy head of military law enforcement Gyunduz Mamedov said this is the 27th blackout at the plant since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
- The plant received diesel Thursday and Friday from an alternate location; its usual off-site storage facility has not delivered fuel in about six months.
- The IAEA is negotiating a local ceasefire to allow repairs to damaged electrical lines.
- Europe's largest nuclear plant, occupied by Russia since 2022, has not generated electricity since September 2022 but must keep its six non-operating reactors cooled to prevent a fuel meltdown.
- Three drone incidents at the plant that week injured two employees; a drone strike earlier this month killed one nuclear specialist and wounded 17, with Moscow blaming Kyiv.
Why it matters: Zaporizhzhia's 10-day diesel supply is the only buffer between its six non-operating reactors and a fuel meltdown, yet the IAEA's ceasefire talks to repair electrical lines have not produced a fix — and both sides accuse the other of attacking the plant sitting on the front line.
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