MELITOPOL, December 3. /TASS/. A 330kV external power supply line on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), which was knocked out of operation on Friday night, is expected to be restored by December 5, said Renat Karchaa, the advisor to the CEO of Russia’s state nuclear power corporation Rosenergoatom.

According to the official, the 330kV power supply line disconnected at 10:26 p.m. Moscow time [7:26 p.m. GMT] on Friday. Five hours later, at 3:32 a.m. Moscow time [12:32 a.m. GMT] on Saturday, a 750kV power supply line was also shut down, and the plant’s staff had to switch to diesel generators. By 08:08 a.m. Moscow time [5:08 a.m. GMT], the 750kV line was restored.

Karchaa said that the 750kV line "continues to supply electricity," but the 330kV line remains "out of operation, it is being repaired."

"It is tentatively expected to be restored by December 5," Karchaa said. "There are no threats and risks for nuclear security at the Zaporozhye NPP."

Speaking about reasons behind the breakdowns, the Russian nuclear official said they occurred on Ukrainian-controlled territories.

The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was temporarily disconnected from an external power source on Friday night and switched to diesel generators, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Saturday. The IAEA did not give a reason for the outage.

The plant is currently connected to a 750-kilovolt main power line and has a 330-kilovolt backup line. In the event of a complete loss of connection to external lines, diesel generators at the site will be switched on. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has repeatedly emphasized that power outages at the plant jeopardize the physical and nuclear safety of the facility.

Located in Energodar, the Zaporozhye nuclear facility, with roughly 6GW of capacity, is the largest of its kind in Europe. Russia took control of the plant on February 28, 2022, in the first days of its special military operation in Ukraine. Since then, units of the Ukrainian army have periodically conducted shelling both of residential districts in nearby Energodar and the premises of the nuclear plant itself, by means of drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).