Truce around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant allows repairs

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, allowing Ukrainian technicians to repair the electricity line needed to operate the facility safely.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the plant, Europe’s largest, has been disconnected from external electricity since Aug. 20 because of “military activity” north of the Dnieper River. Since then, diesel generators have powered cooling systems for its six reactors and spent-fuel pools.

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The plant is running out of diesel fuel reserves and faces a possible total blackout within days unless external electricity supplies are restored or more fuel reserves can be transported to the site, located in an active war zone.

The IAEA warned that the facility could face a complete blackout within days unless outside power is restored or additional diesel supplies reach the site, which lies in an active war zone. The agency negotiated the local ceasefire around the power line so repair work could begin.

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Both sides had been cooperating constructively with the IAEA in the interests of nuclear safety and security.

“Both sides had been cooperating constructively with the IAEA in the interests of nuclear safety and security,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said. He described the agreement as the seventh ceasefire secured by the agency in efforts “to help prevent a nuclear accident during the conflict.”

Grossi has repeatedly warned since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 about the danger posed by fighting near nuclear facilities such as Zaporizhzhia. Although the plant no longer produces electricity because its reactors are in technical shutdown, it still needs continuous power and functioning systems to cool the reactor cores and spent nuclear fuel, which continues to produce residual heat.

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to help prevent a nuclear accident during the conflict