Efforts to facilitate the repair of the 330 kV Ferosplavna-1 power line at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) are ongoing, following the discovery last week of additional damage to the line during the successful reconnection of the plant to Ukraine’s power grid, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.
During repair work to restore off-site power to the plant – ending a full month without external electricity – the IAEA confirmed the detection of additional damage to the back-up Ferosplavna-1 line located about 1.8 kilometres from the Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant’s switchyard.
Negotiation efforts are now focused on the full restoration of the Ferosplavna-1 power line, one of ten lines the ZNPP had access to prior to the conflict. This line, along with the recently restored Dniprovska line, was one of the two remaining lines used by the plant. Ferosplavna-1 was lost on 7 May, while the Dniprovska line was disconnected late last month. Both sides have attributed the damage to ongoing military activity in the region.
“We continue to work intensively to support the conditions needed for this additional repair work to begin. Restoring this power line is essential to improving the fragile nuclear safety and security situation at the site,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
Although the plant’s six reactors have been shut down for more than three years and are not generating electricity, they still require a stable power supply to operate essential safety systems, including cooling pumps and other nuclear safety and security equipment. Over the past month, these systems were powered by emergency diesel generators, underscoring the plant’s continued vulnerability amid the conflict.
Separately, the IAEA has been informed of military activity in Ukraine early this morning that has led to damage to substations critical to nuclear safety and security in Ukraine. Following this, IAEA teams at both South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant (SUNPP) and Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) have reported that each of the plants have lost access to one of their off-site power lines. Furthermore, the IAEA team at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) have reported that the plant has reduced the power of two of its four units at the request of the grid operator. The team at KhNPP also had to shelter at their hotel for several hours this morning.
“The dangers to nuclear safety continue to be very real and ever-present,” said Director General Grossi. “I once again call for maximum military restraint in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and full respect of the seven indispensable pillars for nuclear safety and security.”
The IAEA continues to implement its comprehensive programme of assistance to Ukraine in nuclear safety and security. In October, the Agency delivered a package of support under the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to the Kherson Oblast (ISAMKO), established in response to the catastrophic flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023. As part of this package, Ukrainian Meteorological Institute received a high precision isotopic water analyzer to support Ukraine’s environmental and hydrological monitoring efforts. Staff of the Institute also received training in Vienna on how to build essential skills for practical application and operation of the received analyser in support of conducting accurate isotopic analyses of water samples. The assistance was funded with support from Japan.
ISAMKO is designed to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to address the environmental, health, and infrastructural impacts of the disaster. The programme includes the procurement of equipment and supplies, technical advice, and capacity building in key areas such as civil structure integrity, food and water safety, public and animal health, and agricultural recovery.
Previous deliveries under ISAMKO include diagnostic equipment for the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital, radiation monitoring equipment for the South Ukrainian Geological Company and the regional state laboratory in Mykolaiv province received a generator and a real-time PCR cycler (Polymerase Chain Reaction, a nuclear-derived technique) for fast and accurate analysis to help it fight the spread of disease as a result of the flooding.
“The IAEA is helping Ukraine not only uphold nuclear safety and security, but also respond to the environmental and health impacts of the Kakhovka dam flooding,” said Director General Grossi. “Even amid war, building national capacity with nuclear-derived tools is essential to protect people and ecosystems.”
The training delivered for the staff of the Ukrainian Meteorological Institute is the first in a series of trainings already planned for different ISAMKO beneficiaries, with three additional training events planned in the coming months.
Further to this assistance work under ISAMKO, the IAEA continued its deliveries related to nuclear safety and security and medical assistance, bringing the total to 169 shipments of essential equipment and supplies to Ukraine since the start of the armed conflict.
As part of these deliveries, the SUNPP received personal protective equipment and medical units at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), and RNPP and SUNPP received various medical supplies. The Slavutych City Hospital, the National Research Center for Radiation Medicine (NRCRM), Varash Hospital, and South Ukraine City Hospital, providing medical care for the NPP personnel, received a range of medical equipment and supplies.
All these deliveries were made possible through funding from Italy, Japan, and Sweden. With these deliveries, priority equipment and supplies worth over €20 million has reached Ukraine since the start of the conflict.
