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Update 326 - IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency

7 November 2025
Vienna, Austria
115/2025

Another localized ceasefire brokered by the IAEA took effect near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) today, paving the way for repairs aimed at strengthening the site's connection to the electricity grid and preventing a nuclear accident, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

Two weeks after off-site power was successfully restored to the ZNPP following a one-month outage - also made possible by temporary truce arrangements negotiated by the IAEA - demining and other preparations got under way this morning near a damaged section of the 330 kilovolt (kV) Ferosplavna-1 line, whose connection to the plant was cut six months ago.

Technicians are expected to begin the repairs on Saturday with the intention to re-connect Ferosplavna-1 to the site in the next few days. It would give the ZNPP access to two power lines after last month's repairs of the 750 kV Dniprovska line, which had been disconnected for more than four weeks when it resumed supplying electricity to the plant on 23 October.

The IAEA team based at the ZNPP will be monitoring the new repairs, just as two Agency teams supervised last month's activities on opposite sides of the frontline.

The initial plan had been to repair both lines simultaneously in October, when two localized and temporary ceasefires allowed technicians from both sides to work. While they restored the Dniprovska line, additional damage to Ferosplavna-1 was discovered at another location closer to the plant itself but outside of the initially agreed ceasefire zones, delaying its re-connection.

"Last month's restoration of off-site power to Europe's largest nuclear power plant was an extremely important development for nuclear safety and security, ending the tenth and longest complete loss of external electricity during more than three and a half years of war," Director General Grossi said.

"However, it is clearly not enough to just have one power line available for the plant, which used to have ten before the war. Following intense and complex consultations with the Russian Federation and Ukraine, we agreed on a new ceasefire window that will allow the additional repairs to proceed. Hopefully, also this power line will be re-connected soon, marking a new significant step for nuclear safety and security. It will further enhance the plant's nuclear safety resilience," he said.

The ZNPP's six reactors have not produced electricity for more than three years and its six reactors are all shut down. But it still needs electricity to power the pumps used for cooling its reactor cores and spent fuel and to avoid a meltdown with a possible radioactive release. When the plant loses all external electricity, it relies on emergency diesel generators for the power it needs to operate its safety systems.

"Both sides recognize the risks posed by a prolonged loss of power as well as by limited off-site power redundancy at a nuclear facility. They have worked constructively with us to enable these vital repairs to proceed. However, the overall nuclear safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant remains highly precarious. We will only be able to claim success once this devastating war ends without a nuclear accident," Director General Grossi said.