The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine has lost its external electricity supply and is running on backup diesel generators, the plant's management and the UN nuclear watchdog said on Sunday, November 8.

Source: Reuters

The plant's Russian-installed management said the 330 kV Ferosplavna power line was disconnected by automatic protection systems because of damage. Backup diesel generators are now supplying the equipment required for the safe operation of the station, and staff are monitoring all operational parameters.

Ukraine's Energoatom said the line went offline at 02:36 on November 8 and an automatic attempt to reconnect it failed. Energoatom said this is the 16th time the plant has completely lost its external power supply since the beginning of 2026.

Source: Energoatom via AgroReview

IAEA: cause not yet known, fuel for about two weeks

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the cause and location of the latest disconnection are not yet known. The agency said the plant currently has sufficient fuel reserves to run a limited number of emergency diesel generators for about two weeks. The IAEA had said on October 23 that the main Dniprovska power line remained unavailable.

Source: IAEA via Devdiscourse (Reuters)

The plant management said radiation levels on the site and in the surrounding surveillance zone are normal. All six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant, have been in cold shutdown since 2022, but the plant still needs external power to keep nuclear fuel cool and safety systems running.

Russia seized the plant in the first weeks of its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have regularly accused each other of military action that risks nuclear safety around the site. In early September, a local ceasefire brokered by the IAEA allowed repairs after the plant had been without external power since August 20.

There was no immediate timeline for restoring the Ferosplavna line. The repeated blackouts underline the fragile safety situation at the occupied plant, where every loss of off-site power forces reliance on diesel generators that are designed only as a short-term backup.