Engineers have reconnected the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to Ukraine’s external power grid, narrowly averting a disaster after the station spent nearly three days relying entirely on emergency diesel generators.
Ending a 65-hour total grid failure
According to a statement released by Ukraine’s state nuclear operator, Energoatom, external electricity was re-established to the facility on Saturday, June 13 at 2:30 p.m. local time. The plant’s internal safety and monitoring configurations are currently drawing electricity via a 330 kV high-voltage overhead transmission line.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
The nuclear facility had been plunged into a state of total grid isolation on June 10 at 9:09 p.m., following the shutdown of the vital ZaTES – Ferrosplavna No. 1 backup line. The immediate loss of external energy triggered automated safety protocols, forcing the facility to engage its array of emergency diesel generators to maintain the operation of cooling pumps and radiation monitoring equipment.
A dangerous acceleration of emergencies
The weekend incident represents an acceleration in the degradation of the regional electrical infrastructure.
This event marks the 19th complete blackout at the ZNPP since its occupation by Russian military forces in 2022, and stands as the seventh grid failure recorded in 2026 alone.
Energoatom has repeatedly warned that each individual loss of off-site power places Europe’s largest nuclear installation on the precipice of a severe radiological accident. While all six of the facility’s reactors are currently maintained in a non-operational “cold shutdown” state, they still require an uninterrupted supply of electricity to circulate coolant through the active cores and spent fuel pools.
Other Topics of Interest
