Safety fears as external power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant still out after three days

"External power to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been cut for more than three days, a record outage that has prompted safety concerns over the six-reactor site on the frontline of the Ukraine war. Emergency generators are being used to power cooling and safety systems after the final power line into the plant was cut on the Russian side at 4.56pm on Tuesday and there is no immediate sign that the line will be reconnected."

"Western experts and Ukrainian officials fear the Kremlin is manufacturing a crisis to consolidate its grip over the plant, which is Europe's largest, and that Russia is taking high-risk steps to turn on at least one reactor despite the wartime conditions. Russia is using the nuclear power station as a bargaining chip, said one Ukrainian government official, while a specialist at Greenpeace said the Russian occupation had entered a new critical and potentially catastrophic phase."

External electricity to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been severed for more than three days, leaving emergency generators to supply cooling and safety systems after the final power line on the Russian side was cut. The outage is a record for the six-reactor site and has provoked safety concern amid frontline wartime conditions. European stress tests after Fukushima indicated plants should withstand 72 hours without external power; exceeding that duration is untried. Russia seized the plant in March 2022, placed reactors in cold shutdown, and officials warn the site is being used as a bargaining chip.

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