The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian troops, lost its external power supply on Sunday and is now being operated with diesel generators. This was reported by Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company Energoatom, according to the news agency Ukrinform.
According to the report, the facility failed at 02:36 on this Sunday, 8 November, on the last still-operating 330 kV line “Ferrosplavna-1”, which connected it to the Ukrainian electricity grid. An automatic attempt to reconnect the line failed.
“This is the 16th case of a complete loss of external power supply at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant since the beginning of 2026. A power outage at the facility poses a critical threat to nuclear and radiological safety,” Ukrinform quoted Energoatom as saying. Operation in blackout mode carries the direct risk of failure of vital safety systems and cooling of the nuclear fuel if the diesel generators fail or their operating resources are exhausted. This could lead to a radiation accident.
Energoatom stressed that the systematic loss of external power supply is a consequence of the occupation of the plant. Nuclear and radiological safety there can only be restored if the facility returns fully to Ukrainian control and to its lawful operator, the National Nuclear Energy Company Energoatom. According to Ukrinform, the plant had already lost its external power supply on 20 August.
