Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant's Power Scare Highlights Ongoing Tensions

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine temporarily lost its off-site power overnight, the IAEA reported. The plant, controlled by Russia since 2022, isn’t producing electricity but needs external power to prevent a meltdown. A subsequent power line reconnection and stable operation followed, with radiation levels remaining normal.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant briefly lost its off-site power supply overnight, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Saturday. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi highlighted the incident.

Europe's largest nuclear plant, seized by Russia in March 2022, is currently inactive in electricity production but requires external power to maintain nuclear material stability and prevent a meltdown. A 30-minute outage was resolved with a reconnection to a 330-kilovolt (kV) power line, the IAEA reported.

A previously disconnected 750 kV line was also reinstated, leading to a stable power supply, the Russian-installed management confirmed Saturday. They reported normal radiation levels despite widespread military activities affecting Ukraine's electricity grid, which caused nuclear power plants to reduce output.

(With inputs from agencies.)