Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Nightmare: Europe’s Largest Reactor Now on Emergency Power
Situation Overview: The Zaporizhzhia plant sits near Energodar on the Dnipro river in occupied Ukraine. It was capable of powering 4 million homes before the war. Russian forces seized it in March 2022; its six VVER-1000 reactors were immediately shut down, cutting off a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity output reuters.com reuters.com. Even idle, the reactor cores and adjacent spent-fuel pools contain hot radioactive material that needs cooling. Normally this cooling comes from electric pumps powered by the grid. Since the latest power line was severed on Sept. 23, those pumps have instead been run by diesel generators reuters.com reuters.com. Zelenskiy’s Alarm: In his nightly address, President Zelenskiy said “the situation is critical”, emphasizing this is the first time the plant has gone so long without outside power reuters.com abcnews.go.com. He warned, “No terrorist in the world has ever dared to do with a nuclear power plant what Russia is doing now” theguardian.com abcnews.go.com. Zelenskiy noted that the backup generators and the plant “were not designed for” continuous operation, and one of the eight main diesels had already broken down abcnews.go.com theguardian.com. He blamed Russian shelling for keeping repair crews from restoring the line.