Today at 18:01
On April 4, 2024, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant had to switch to a single power line due to Russian attacks.
“The IAEA experts stationed at the ZNPP reported that the sole remaining 330 kilovolt (kV) line was disconnected at 10:06 am local time, leaving the plant entirely dependent on its sole remaining 750 kV line for off-site power,” reads the IAEA statement.
It must be noted that Rafael Grossi used the word “conflict” instead of the word “war” in his statement. The statement also said “the cause of the latest outage was not immediately clear, but it followed reports of military activity in the region and beyond”.
Ukrainian Energoatom was clear the emergency was caused by another Russian attack and once again urged the IAEA organization to make Russia reatreat from the plant.
“Zaporizhzhia NPP is on the verge of another blackout. The external overhead line of PL-330kV Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant – Ferosplavna through which the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP received power from the Ukrainian power grid to meet its own needs was disconnected at 10:06 today, 4 April 2024, due to Russian attack,” the Energoatom claimed.
The press service added that these conditions “threaten to cause an emergency at the temporarily occupied ZNPP, as if this last line is disconnected from the national grid, the plant will be on the verge of another blackout, which is a serious violation of the plant’s safe operation”.
Since Russian invasion, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has gone through 8 complete power outages and 1 partial power outage when emergency diesel generators and safety systems had to be involved.
