On November 26, 2023, at 10:30 am, due to a short circuit occurred around 100 kilometres north of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant captured by the russians, the sole remaining (fourth) transmission line linking it to the energy system of Ukraine, ZNPP 750 kV power line – Dniprovska, was cut.
Three other lines were damaged even earlier during the ruscist shelling.
As reported by the IAEA, at that time the ZNPP was receiving external power from its only available 330 kV back-up power line.
Additionally, the power unit 4 went to a partial blackout mode. The diesel generator started operating and was manually shut down after ten minutes, indicating a possible issue with electrical configuration of a nuclear facility.
The damaged 750 kV line was restored by Ukrainian specialists at 8:52 pm. Until now, the Zaporizhzhia NPP has been on the verge of another blackout for almost a whole day in case of the 330 kV reserve line power loss.
As a reminder, while under russian occupation, the Zaporizhzhia NPP has lost external power supplies repeatedly, while the power plant has already experienced seven complete and one partial loss of off-site power events.
