The Ukrainian operator Energoatom said that there was a “total blackout” at the power plant during the night. A few hours later, power was restored.
Ukraine’s Russian-owned Zaporizhzhia power plant was “on the verge of a nuclear accident” on Friday night due to a temporary power outage, Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom said on Saturday, December 2.
“Last night there was a total failure at the Zaporizhzhia power plant” and generators had to be used, Energoatom wrote on Telegram, saying that power was restored a few hours later, around 7 a.m.
Two power lines supplying the power plant “were interrupted,” one of which was “de-energized during an airstrike,” the operator explained. The power supply can finally be “restored,” he added.
Eighth power outage since the start of the war
However, this power outage is dangerous for the power plant’s proper operation, Energoatom said, and it is “on the verge of a nuclear and radioactive accident.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said in a statement that power to the plant had been “temporarily withdrawn overnight” and that this was the eighth power outage of its kind since the conflict began.
The agency said it would “provide further information as it becomes available.”
“The (Russian) occupation troops do not care about security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” accused Energoatom President Petro Kotin. “They will continue to create dangerous situations and blackmail the whole world with a nuclear and radiation accident,” he concluded.