Europe faced the prospect of a radiation disaster on Thursday when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Thanks to the backup electricity that was activated, the Zaporizhzhia plant could operate safely, he added. Previously, fires had damaged overhead power lines, shutting down the plant.
There is growing concern about the fighting near the complex, which is Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
“If the diesel generators hadn’t turned on, if the automation and our plant staff had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident,” President Zelensky warned on Thursday night.
The damage was caused by fires that Ukraine’s state nuclear agency said had interfered with power lines connecting the plant on Thursday, temporarily cutting Zaporizhzhia off from the national grid for the first time in its history.
“As a result, the station’s two working power units were disconnected from the network,” Kyiv officials said.
The state nuclear company said work was underway on Friday to reconnect the reactors to the grid. Zaporizhzhia’s other four reactors have been out of action for most of the war.
Satellite images taken on Wednesday showed an extensive fire burning near the nuclear complex.
President Zelensky blamed the damage on Russian shelling and accused Moscow of putting Ukraine and Europe “one step away” from disaster in his nightly address.
Radiation levels nearby remained normal despite the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex losing its main power supply on Thursday, local officials reported.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the plant “remained connected to a 330kV line from the nearby thermal power facility that can provide backup electricity if needed”, citing Ukraine’s state nuclear agency.
It added that all six nuclear reactor units remained disconnected from the power grid despite supplies being restored later Thursday.
Usually, the nuclear plant supplies one-fifth of Ukraine’s total electricity – so its continued disconnection from the national grid would pose serious challenges for Ukraine.
It comes amid claims from Kyiv that Moscow could be trying to intentionally divert power from the occupied nuclear plant to reconnect it to Russia’s power grid.
There were reports on Thursday of power outages across towns and villages in neighbouring parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The mayor of Enerhodar, located next to the nuclear plant, claimed on Thursday that the city had no power or water at all. There were also reports of power cuts in the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Kherson.
Washington officials condemned any bid by Moscow to redirect the power generated by the Zaporizhzhia plant away from Kyiv’s national grid.
“The electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine,” US state department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday evening, adding that “no country should turn a nuclear power plant into an active war zone.”