Repair work has started on damaged off-site power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following a four-week outage, the United Nations nuclear watchdog has confirmed.
The work began after local ceasefire zones between Ukrainian and Russian forces were established to allow the work to proceed, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in a post on social media platform X on Saturday.
“Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security,” Grossi said.
“Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable complex repair plan to proceed.”
The Russian-appointed management of the occupied plant, in one of the war’s most volatile nerve points in southeastern Ukraine, confirmed the maintenance work, saying it was made possible by “close cooperation” between the IAEA and Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
The Russian Defence Ministry will play a key role in ensuring the safety of the repair work, the plant said on Saturday via its Telegram channel.
The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.
It has been operating on diesel generators since September 23, when its last remaining external power line was severed in attacks that each side blamed on the other. The IAEA has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, which is the biggest in Europe.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
