Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has regained its access to back-up electricity from the grid for the first time in six months, after today’s completion of repairs to a second power line under the protection of a localized ceasefire brokered by the IAEA, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. 

​

The re-connection of the 330 kilovolt (kV) Ferosplavna-1 power line to the ZNPP today at 19:43 local time marks another significant step in efforts to prevent a nuclear accident during the military conflict, coming two weeks after the restoration of the 750 kV Dniprovska line ended a month-long outage of off-site power at the site.

​

“Immediately after the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant lost all off-site power on 23 September, we began working closely with both the Russian Federation and Ukraine to enable the repairs of both power lines, which are indispensable for being able to maintain nuclear safety and security at the site during this devastating war,” Director General Grossi said.

​

“As the damaged sections of the power lines were located in an active combat zone, this required complex negotiations with both sides to establish carefully coordinated temporary truce arrangements so that their technicians could work without risking their own lives. It took several weeks to get to this point, with the plant once again having access to two power lines. It is a good day for nuclear safety and security, although the overall situation remains highly precarious and our important mission in Ukraine is far from over,” he said.

​

The repairs of the remaining damaged section of Ferosplavna-1 got under way on Saturday morning around three kilometres from the ZNPP’s site perimeter after the area had been demined the day before. Technicians repaired a damaged cable between two pylons, with an IAEA team monitoring their work. The line – which had been cut since 7 May 2025 - was finally re-connected to the plant this evening.

​

It came just over two weeks after the successful repairs of the Dniprovska line on 23 October 2025 restored off-site power to the ZNPP, which for a month had relied on emergency diesel generators for the electricity it needs for essential nuclear safety and security functions.

​

For the first time since May 2025, the ZNPP once again has redundancy in its external power supply. However, the external electricity situation at the plant remains extremely fragile. During more than three and a half years of conflict, the site has lost all access to external electricity ten times. Before the conflict, it was connected to the grid through ten power lines.

​

The ZNPP’s six reactors have not produced electricity for more than three years and its six reactors are all shut down. But it still needs electricity to power the pumps used for cooling its reactor cores and spent fuel and to avoid a meltdown with a possible radioactive release. 

​

Despite today’s re-establishment of back-up power at the ZNPP, developments elsewhere in Ukraine underlined the highly precarious nuclear safety and security situation during the conflict. 

​

Two operating NPPs – Khmelnitskyy and Rivne – had to reduce output of electricity today following an overnight attack on an electrical substation critical for nuclear safety and security. Last week, Rivne also temporarily reduced output following damage to another substation, underscoring the importance of such energy infrastructure for the safe operation of NPPs.

​

“Electrical substations are critical for our efforts to maintain nuclear safety and security during the war. Their continued degradation is a deep source of concern in this regard. I continue to call for maximum military restraint in order to maintain nuclear safety and avoid an accident with serious radiological consequences,” Director General Grossi said.

​

Text Courtesy, IAEA