Key power line repaired at Zaporizhzhia NPP – IAEA

Technical specialists have completed repairs on a critically important power line near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) under a local ceasefire mediated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said this in a statement seen by Ukrinform.

"I would like to thank both the Russian Federation and Ukraine for engaging constructively with us in making this possible by agreeing to another localized ceasefire. As a result, we have managed to take a crucial step in support of nuclear safety and security. However, the overall situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and Ukraine's other nuclear sites remains precarious and our work is far from finished," Grossi said.

He noted that technicians had successfully completed crucial power line repairs near ZNPP, carried out with security assurances provided by both sides under an IAEA-brokered local ceasefire. It was the third time in recent months that temporary truce arrangements negotiated and supervised by the IAEA enabled the reconnection of power lines vital for nuclear safety that had been damaged during the military conflict.

Read also: IAEA: Ukraine and Russia establish local “window of silence” to repair Zaporizhzhia NPP power lines

This time, it allowed the restoration of power transmission between the electrical switchyards of the ZNPP and the nearby Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant two weeks after it was cut, reportedly due to military activity. The connection is important as it offers a key route for electricity supplied by one of the ZNPP's two available power lines, a 330 kilovolt (kV) line.

Monitored by the IAEA team based at the ZNPP, the repairs that began on Sunday morning were completed on Monday afternoon, after both the damaged transmission line and a separate issue with the ZNPP switchyard's autotransformer had been fully addressed and restored.

Earlier on Sunday, the IAEA reported the start of repairs on this key power line near the Zaporizhzhia NPP, following the achievement of another temporary local ceasefire mediated by the Agency.