Lhe last operational reactor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and occupied by Russian forces, was disconnected from the network on Monday, Ukrainian state operator Energoatom said. “Reactor number 6 has been shut down and disconnected from the network,” Energoatom said on Telegram, implicating a fire “which broke out because of the bombing” and damaged a power line connecting this unit to the Ukrainian network.
This reactor was the only one to operate among the six units of this plant. On Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose experts are on site, had already announced the shutdown of reactor number 5, also due to the damage to a power line following a a bombardment. The other four reactors in Zaporizhia have been disconnected for weeks.
This latest incident comes after a visit on Friday by an IAEA delegation to the plant, which has been at the heart of tensions between kyiv and Moscow for months and whose site has been bombed several times, raising fears a nuclear disaster. For several weeks, Russians and Ukrainians have accused each other of these bombardments. Led by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, most of the mission left the plant the same day. Of the six experts who remained on site, four left Monday morning while two others should be present there permanently, Energoatom said in a separate statement.
With six reactors with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts each, this plant fell into the hands of Russian troops in March, shortly after the launch of the invasion of Ukraine.