International experts have started “crucial” work on power lines connecting to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which sits on the front line of fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
Why It Matters
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine has been under Russian control since the initial weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in early 2022. Fighting close to the site, which has been repeatedly disconnected from external power, has fueled concerns throughout the nearly four years of all-out war about the safety of the facility.
Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of striking the site. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, north of Kyiv in the then-Soviet Union, was hit by what is now considered the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
The ZNPP, and who will manage the site, has been one of the many obstacles tripping up U.S.-led peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
What To Know
Rafael Grossi, the chief of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the repairs had started on power lines near the ZNPP after the agency had brokered a local ceasefire around the area.
The watchdog said on Sunday that Grossi had thanked both Russia and Ukraine for agreeing to a temporary “window of silence” to bring back power between the switchyards of the ZNPP and the nearby thermal power plant, the IAEA said on Sunday. It is not clear how long this “window of silence” will last, but the nuclear experts are expected to remain on-site to complete the work for several days.
The IAEA had said earlier in December the power between the ZNPP switchyard and the one for the Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant had stopped after the transmission line was damaged, “significantly reducing flexibility and resilience of the site’s electrical configuration.” Electricity generated from a power plant heads to a switchyard to be sent out to the grid.
The work is “part of persistent efforts to prevent [a] nuclear accident during military conflict,” the IAEA said.
The Zaporizhzhia site has lost access to off-site power a dozen times since February 2022, including in mid-December, according to the IAEA. The watchdog separately said on Tuesday that the Khmelnytsky and Rivne nuclear power plants, both in western Ukraine, had reduced power after their substations were affected by military attacks. Ukraine currently has three operational nuclear power plants.
“The electrical grid has become increasingly degraded and unstable during the conflict, posing a threat to the safety of the nuclear power plants,” Grossi said.
Russia has consistently hammered Ukraine’s electricity and energy networks with drone and missile strikes. Tens of thousands of people did not have access to power as of Sunday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The ZNPP features in the 20-point revised peace proposal publicly shared by Ukrainian officials earlier this week ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday. Under current draft terms shared by Ukrainian media, the U.S., Ukraine and Russia could jointly operate the ZNPP.
The ZNPP produced a fifth of all Ukraine’s energy before 2022, according to domestic media.
What People Are Saying
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in September that alleged Russian attacks on the ZNPP were “a threat to absolutely everyone.” Russia denies targeting the plant.
“It is under our control, and therefore the Russian side ensures security at this station,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in early October, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
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