For the sixth time since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was disconnected from the power grid.
Following another blackout at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has called for a protection zone, saying he was “amazed at the complacency” of the organization he heads , the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Russian forces bombed several Ukrainian cities while people slept on Thursday, killing at least six civilians, knocking out electricity and taking Europe’s largest nuclear power plant off the grid for the sixth time since the invasion of Moscow began last year.
The last time all power was lost at the site was on Nov. 23, 2022, Rafael Grossi told the IAEA board of directors at a meeting on Thursday.
“What are we doing to prevent this from happening? We are the IAEA, we are supposed to care about nuclear safety,” he said.
“Every time we throw a dice. And if we allow this again and again, our luck will one day run out.”
The agency has placed teams of experts at all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to reduce the risk of serious accidents.
ZNPP, which is owned by Russia, can run on diesel generators for 10 days. Nuclear power plants require constant power to run cooling systems and prevent a meltdown, and fears persist about the possibility of catastrophe in Zaporizhzhia.
As with previous attacks, Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the latest blackout.
Grossi has long tried to get both sides to make a deal, promising not to shoot at or from the factory and that heavy weapons would be removed.
After the attack, the plant lost all external power and relied on diesel generators, a last line of defense to avoid a meltdown from overheating of the reactor fuel, the IAEA confirmed.
“This morning, around 5 a.m. local time, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost all off-site power when the last remaining 750-kilovolt line was disconnected. The only remaining 330-kilovolt backup line was damaged and under repair a few days ago,” The IAEA reports this in a statement on Thursday.
In his statement to the IAEA Board, Grossi stressed, “This is the sixth time – let me say it again, the sixth time – that ZNPP has lost all off-site power and had to operate in this emergency mode. Let me remind you: this is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and let this happen? This cannot go on.”
The first major salvo of missile strikes since mid-February shattered the longest period of relative calm since Russia launched a campaign to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure five months ago.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 Ukrainian regions had been affected.
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