On the night of November 8, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant completely lost external power supply. The station's own needs are provided by backup diesel generators, reported Energoatom.
According to the company, at 02:36, the last operating 330 kV line "Ferosplavna-1", which connected the station to the Ukrainian power grid, went down. An attempt to automatically restore the connection was unsuccessful.
According to the operator's calculations, this is the 16th case of complete loss of external power supply at ZNPP since the beginning of 2026.
Energoatom warned that failure of diesel generators or depletion of their resource could disrupt the operation of the station's support systems and cooling of nuclear fuel. In such a case, there is a risk of a radiation accident.
Cooling is necessary even after the reactor is shut down: the radioactive decay products in the fuel continue to generate heat. As the American nuclear regulator NRC explains, heat generation continues for many years after the cessation of the chain reaction.
Energoatom describes the possible consequences of losing backup power. No radiation release is mentioned in its message.
The operator did not specify in this publication the reason for the line disconnection, the timeline for restoring the connection, and current data on fuel reserves for the generators.
Based on materials from: Energoatom, NRC.
Caption: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, November 12, 2021. Archive photo: Leo211 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
