Zaporizhzhia’s main power line has been reactivated, says UN agency

One of the four main power lines at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been repaired and is once again supplying the plant with electricity from the Ukrainian grid, two weeks after it stopped working, the UN nuclear agency said on Saturday. (17).

Although six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, have been shut down, the fuel in them still needs to be cooled to avoid a potentially catastrophic disaster. This means that the plant needs electricity to pump water to the reactor core.

Zaporizhzhia’s power supply has been a source of much concern after the main power line stopped working.

Subsequently, three support lines that could connect it to a coal plant were also disconnected.

This has led the plant to enter what is called “island mode”, in which its last operating reactor supplies power to it, but it is not a sustainable mode. A helpline was reconnected a week ago, allowing that reactor to be shut down as well.

“With the reconnection of the main line yesterday afternoon, the three backup power lines are once again being held in reserve,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

“The other three main external 750 kV (kilovolt) power lines that were previously lost during the conflict remain inoperative,” he added.

The governments of Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the bombing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant site that damaged the building and caused power lines to be disconnected.