Power supply is fully restored at the Chernobyl NPP
3 October 12:15
The defunct Chornobyl nuclear power plant was supplied with electricity as usual on Thursday, October 2, Ukrainian officials told AFP, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a blackout alert, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Zelenskiy said the plant was cut off from power for more than three hours after a Russian strike on a power substation in Slavutych, a village built for personnel evacuated after the 1986 disaster.
“Today everything is working normally,” Ukraine’s Energy Ministry told AFP on Thursday.
The Chornobyl zone administration told AFP that the plant’s New Safe Confinement – a protective structure that covers both the reactor unit and its original shelter to prevent the release of radioactive materials – “is operating normally.”
Russian troops seized control of the facility in northern Ukraine on the first day of the invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine’s nuclear facilities have been repeatedly attacked by Russia throughout the war, raising fears of a possible nuclear disaster.
The 1986 explosion of the fourth reactor was the worst nuclear accident in the world, exposing hundreds of thousands of people to elevated levels of radiation.
Zaporizhzhia off the grid
Meanwhile, the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been disconnected from the grid since last Tuesday.
Both Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for causing the blackout.
The plant’s six reactors, which produced about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the war, were shut down after Moscow seized them.
But the facility needs electricity to keep the cooling systems and other safety systems that prevent reactor meltdowns and the release of radiation into the atmosphere running.
Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that the situation there was “critical” and that one of the backup diesel generators had “failed.”
The Moscow-based operator said on Wednesday that the situation was “under control.”
Since the start of the war, Zaporizhzhia has faced numerous security threats, including frequent shelling in the vicinity, repeated power outages and staff shortages.
The site is located near the city of Enerhodar on the Dnipro River, a de facto front line in southern Ukraine.
