ZNPP is again on the backup power line, one power unit is operating

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — SATURDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER, 2022, 22:27

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was disconnected from its last main power line; electricity is supplied via a backup line. Also, one of the two operating power units was turned off again.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Energoatom

Quote: "The Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station (ZNPP) has again lost contact with the last main external power transmission line, but the facility continues to supply electricity to the grid via a backup line."

Details: Ukrainian personnel informed IAEA experts that the fourth 750-kilovolt power line was out of order. Three more were lost earlier during the war.

Electricity (from the ZNPP) is supplied by a 330/750 KW backup line connecting the facility to the adjacent thermal power plant. The same line can provide backup power to the ZNPP if necessary, the IAEA noted.

"In addition, the station management informed the IAEA team that one of the two operating units of the ZNPP was disconnected on Saturday afternoon due to grid restrictions. The same fifth power unit was also disconnected on 1 September — the day Director General Grossi arrived at the facility — due to an internal power failure, but the next day it was reconnected," the agency said.

They added that one power unit is still operating.

Later, Energoatom reported that the fifth power unit of ZNPP was shut down due to continuous shelling by Russian troops.

Quote from Energoatom: "On the evening of 3 September, 2022, the fifth power unit of the ZNPP was disconnected from the power grid at 19.35, after Russian occupiers shelled the communication lines of the ZNPP that connect it with the energy system of Ukraine and due to the insufficient output capacity of the last, reserve line for two power units.

Currently, the 6th power unit remains in operation, with limited capacity supplying electricity to the energy system of Ukraine through a reserve line, and also to provide the power needs of the ZNPP."

Background: On 1 September, as a result of the shelling of the ZNPP by the Russian army, the fifth unit was disconnected, and the backup power supply line for ZNPP’s needs - 330 KW - was also damaged.

On 2 September, Energoatom reported that the fifth power unit of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which was disconnected due to the Russian attack, has been reconnected to the power grid. 

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