The head of the IAEA warned of the risk of a nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been without external power for over a week.

For the first time in the three-year war in Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been without external power for over a week, operating only on emergency diesel generators. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned of the risk of a nuclear accident.

“Although the plant is currently operating using its emergency diesel generators—the last line of defense—and there is no immediate danger as long as they continue to operate, it is clear that the nuclear safety situation is precarious. Neither side would benefit from a nuclear accident,” he said.

The outage occurred when fighting damaged the only remaining power line near the plant, the IAEA noted. The site has personnel, spare parts, and fuel for more than 10 days, and regular deliveries maintain this level. Radiation monitoring has not yet detected any exceedances of safety standards, the agency reported. However, there is a risk that the nuclear fuel could melt if the power supply to the nuclear power plant were to be completely cut off and the cooling units in the system were to stop working. “For this reason, Zaporizhzhia NPP also has mobile diesel generators,” the IAEA noted.