On Thursday afternoon, the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya was disconnected from the power grid. – The actions of the intruders have caused a complete disconnection of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant from the power grid – the first in the plant’s history, writes state-owned Energoatom, which operates Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants, on Telegram. A fire near the reactors is said to have caused the disconnection, according to Reuters. The fire must have damaged the power cables. Later on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) writes in a statement that the electricity is back. – Ukraine told the IAEA that the nuclear power plant lost connection to a power line twice, but now the power should be restored again, the statement says. DSA: Follows the situation closely – This can have an impact on other systems, and therefore we are keen to follow what happens next. This is what Astrid Liland, director of emergency preparedness in the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (DSA), told news. – We are always concerned when something unplanned happens at a nuclear power plant. It is not a planned shutdown, and all unplanned activity at a nuclear power plant is unfortunate. Preparedness director Astrid Liland at DSA says they are always worried when unforeseen things happen at a nuclear power plant. Photo: Robert Rønning / Robert Rønning / news – Increases the risk The power plant is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russia took control of the power plant in southern Ukraine in early March, a few days after they began their invasion of the neighboring country. It is nevertheless operated by the Ukrainian technicians who work there. – This increases the risk. It only makes the situation more unclear, unstable and unpredictable. This is what department head Ole Reistad at the Department of Energy Engineering tells news. Ole Reistad at the Department of Energy Engineering says the disconnection from the power grid leads to a vulnerable situation for the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya. Photo: Hallvard Sandberg – The situation that is going on now, where they lose connection to the outside world and that includes electricity to the plant, is a vulnerable moment, says Reistad. Two elements Reistad says there are two things to be aware of when disconnecting. One is that it will no longer be possible for the power plant to deliver electricity, because the reactors will be switched off. – That in and of itself is positive. It has been one of the major problems in the war that the reactors have continued to produce power for reasons of power supply. Ideally, they should have been shut down, Reistad believes. The second is that interrupted power supply to the power plant can trip over the safety systems. These must be operational in case something unforeseen happens. According to Liland in DSA, the safety systems at the power plant nevertheless worked well on Thursday afternoon. – The safety systems at the nuclear power plant have worked as they should, she says. Asking Russia to stop “nuclear blackmail” Increasingly fierce fighting around Zaporizhzhia recently has led to fears of a new nuclear power plant accident, similar to the one in Chernobyl. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the attacks. In a speech to the UN Security Council yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the IAEA to take control of the power plant. – Russia should unconditionally stop the nuclear blackmail and completely withdraw from the station, Zelenskyj said. On Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres comes out and supports an IAEA mission from the Ukrainian side to the power plant. – The UN Secretariat is prepared to support any IAEA mission from Kyiv to the facility, Guterres writes in a message on Twitter.
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