The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant was disconnected from the grid last week after all power lines were disconnected as a result of fighting in the region and had been operating in “island mode” for several days, generating electricity for critical cooling systems from its only remaining reactor in operation. Energoatom, the state-owned operator of all four of Ukraine’s nuclear plants, said one of the power lines was restored Saturday night, allowing plant operators to shut down the last reactor. “A decision was made to shut down power unit No 6 and move it to the safest state – cold shutdown,” the operator said. Power to the plant has been cut with increasing frequency in recent weeks, including at least three times in the past week. Energoatom said the risk of continued damage to the supply line “remains high” and that it did not want to risk the plant being powered by diesel generators, “the duration of which is limited by the technological resource and the amount of diesel fuel available”. . The plant was disconnected from the Ukrainian grid for the first time in its history on August 25. Energoatom demanded demilitarization of the plant from Russian forces, which took control of the area in early March. On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said the situation at the plant was increasingly precarious, after the off-site power line was cut again. Russia and Ukraine have swapped responsibility for the bombing of the plant and the nearby area. Ukraine claims that Russia is carrying out attacks as part of a false flag operation to blame Ukraine. Russia blames Ukrainian forces. Researchers and journalists have pointed to some evidence that supports some of Ukraine’s claims. However, the Guardian was unable to independently verify the events at the power plant. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Rafael Grossi, director general of the IAEA, warned last week that Ukraine was considering closing the plant because it “no longer had confidence in the power away from home”. Grossi did not claim responsibility for the bombing of the factory. Grossi said that if Ukraine decided not to restore off-site supply, the entire power plant would depend on emergency diesel generators to provide supplies for nuclear safety and security functions. “As a consequence, the operator will not be able to restart the reactors unless off-site power is reliably restored,” he said. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
