Ukraine: safety still precarious at Zaporizhia nuclear plant

According to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) remains precarious. During a meeting with the IAEA Board of Governors, Grossi emphasized the extreme vulnerability of the facility, endangered by military conflict and relying for over a month on a single power line for electricity. He also noted the plant’s reliance on groundwater wells to stay in a cold shutdown state. IAEA experts based at ZNPP have held several meetings with the plant management to discuss the state of the site’s electrical system.
The IAEA team at Zaporizhia has been informed that the Russian regulator, Rostekhnadzor, will soon perform pre-licensing inspection activities at reactors 1 and 2, whose current operational licences issued by Ukraine are due to expire in December 2025 and February 2026, respectively. The team has asked to observe these activities and will seek additional information regarding items such as the scope of these undertakings. IAEA experts have also been monitoring a leak in one reactor unit’s essential service water system and have reported hearing military activities near the plant on most days over the past weeks.