The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant faced another blackout on June 20, marking the twentieth such incident since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Energy.
The ministry reported that military actions by the Russian Federation resulted in the loss of power supply from the Ferrosplavna-1 transmission line (330 kV).
In response to the outage, emergency diesel generators were automatically activated to ensure backup power for cooling the reactor core and maintaining other essential nuclear safety functions at the facility.
The Ministry of Energy emphasized that Russia’s actions pose significant threats to global nuclear safety, stating that the only way to prevent a catastrophe is through complete demilitarization of the plant and its transfer to the full control of a licensed Ukrainian operator.
On June 7, the state-owned company Energoatom reported that a Russian attack had damaged the building of the Centralized Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel. A drone partially destroyed the container reception building, although no spent nuclear fuel was stored there at the time. Energoatom confirmed that radiation levels at the storage site remain within normal limits.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has experienced its twentieth blackout due to military actions in the ongoing conflict, raising concerns about nuclear safety. The Ministry of Energy has called for the demilitarization of the site to mitigate potential disasters.