Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again drew the attention of the international community to the danger looming over the country’s key nuclear facilities – in particular the Chornobyl zone and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). According to him, due to a series of drone strikes and damage to power transmission lines, the plant has been completely cut off from external electricity supply, with emergency diesel generators remaining the only source of power.

The ZNPP has been under Russian control since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but even after being taken out of active generation, it requires constant power supply to maintain the cooling systems of reactors and spent fuel storage facilities.

Since the last disconnection of external power lines, ZNPP has been without external electricity for more than a week (by some estimates, 6–7 days). Despite multiple previous outages, none of them lasted this long.

The plant is currently operating on diesel generators, but they are designed primarily for emergency backup. The IAEA stresses that such a prolonged external disconnection is an “unsustainable” situation in terms of nuclear safety.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that the agency “is cooperating with both sides of the conflict” to restore external electricity supply as soon as possible.

“The plant is currently relying on emergency diesel generators – the last line of defense – but this is clearly an unsustainable nuclear safety situation”, Grossi said.

“Ignoring nuclear and radiation safety requirements, shelling of power lines, and obstacles to repairs – all of this may lead to the development of an accident”, noted Oleh Korikov, Head of Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate.

Greenpeace expert Shaun Burnie described the current outage as “the longest since the start of Russian occupation”. He also questioned Russian claims that repairs were impossible: according to satellite imagery, the damage to high-voltage lines shows no signs of shelling.

Ukrainian authorities state that Russia is obstructing repair efforts by restricting access for technical crews and blocking restoration work, increasing the likelihood of an emergency scenario.

Possible Scenarios and Risks:

• Failure of generators. The generators are not designed for long-term operation. If they fail or run out of fuel, the cooling systems of reactors and storage facilities may cease to function. This could cause nuclear fuel overheating and, in the worst case, a radioactive release.
• International consequences. Any radiation release from ZNPP would not be limited to Ukraine – radioactive particles could spread to neighboring countries, turning the incident into an international problem.
• Political pressure and an argument for military aid. Ukraine is actively using the nuclear threat issue in international discourse as an argument for strengthening air defense systems and accelerating assistance.
• Russian manipulation. Some observers believe that Russia may be deliberately provoking a crisis in order to tighten its control over the plant and use it as a tool of political leverage.

Expert Group CCBS

#ANALYSIS

#UKRAINE

03.10.2025 07:03