MELITOPOL, September 24. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops are heavily and continuously shelling the area of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant's last high-voltage external power supply line, the 750 kW Dnepropetrovskaya, which was damaged on the evening of September 23. The timing of its repair remains unknown, ZNPP Communications Director Yevgenia Yashina told TASS.
"I cannot give a timeline yet. The situation is complicated by the ongoing and intense Ukrainian shelling of the ZNPP area and the damaged line," she said.
Yashina emphasized that the plant’s power supply is currently provided by backup diesel generators, which are operating normally under constant staff supervision.
On Tuesday, Yashina told TASS that the plant had been switched to backup power from diesel generators due to the shutdown of the last external power line supplying it. All of the generators were activated as usual and are operating normally. According to Yashina, there are currently sufficient fuel reserves for backup power at the ZNPP. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that this was the tenth such incident since the start of the Ukrainian conflict. An IAEA team at the plant is investigating the incident's circumstances.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine that the threat to nuclear facilities in the conflict, particularly the ZNPP, is a cause for concern and that all parties must ensure their safety.
A high-voltage 330 kW power supply line, known as Ferrosplavnaya-1, which feeds the ZNPP, was shut down on May 7 to protect the plant. The NPP's own needs were powered from the 750 kW Dnepropetrovskaya line.