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Update 317 - IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency

30 September 2025
Vienna, Austria
98/2025

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is engaging with both sides of the military conflict to help pave the way for the restoration of offsite power to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) as soon as possible, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.

The Director General has in recent days met with leaders and senior officials from the Russian Federation and Ukraine to discuss the nuclear safety and security situation at the ZNPP, which on 23 September suffered its tenth complete loss of offsite power (LOOP) during the conflict.

"Europe's largest nuclear power plant has been without external power for more than a week now, which is by far the longest lasting such event during more than three and a half years of war. I'm in constant contact with the two sides with the aim to enable the plant's swift re-connection to the electricity grid," Director General Grossi said.

"While the plant is currently coping thanks to its emergency diesel generators - the last line of defence - and there is no immediate danger as long as they keep working, it is clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety. Neither side would benefit from a nuclear accident," he said.

According to the ZNPP, the latest offsite power cut occurred at 4:56pm on Tuesday last week when its sole remaining power line was damaged by military activity approximately 1.5 km from the plant, after which emergency diesel generators (EDGs) automatically started operating to supply the power needed for the site's safety systems and to cool its six reactors and the spent fuel.

The ZNPP is currently operating eight EDGs, with nine additional units in standby mode and three in maintenance. Over the past week, the plant has been alternating those operating in order to service some of the idle ones and to ensure continuous availability.

The ZNPP has stated that it has the personnel and spare parts needed to repair the damaged 750 kilovolt (kV) line but that it has so far been unable to do so due to military activity in the area.

For its part, Ukraine has said it is ready to repair a back-up 330 kV power line that has been disconnected since early May, but that the military situation has so far not allowed this either.

As the ZNPP's reactors have been shut down for over three years now - resulting in the cooling of the nuclear fuel and also reducing the amount of radioactive materials in the fuel - the nuclear safety situation is not as dangerous as it would have been had the plant still been generating electricity. Still, in case of a complete blackout with no off-site power and no EDGs operating, the nuclear fuel could melt if power could not be restored in time. For this reason, the ZNPP also has mobile diesel generators available.

"The current status of the reactor units and spent fuel is stable as long as the emergency diesel generators are able to provide sufficient power to maintain essential safety related functions and cooling," Director General Grossi said.

"Nevertheless, it is extremely important that offsite power is restored. I strongly encourage both sides to work with us and enable these essential repairs to take place. As I have repeatedly stated, a nuclear accident is in no one's interest and all efforts must be made to prevent that from occurring," he said.

The IAEA team at the ZNPP is continuing to monitor the situation closely, receiving more frequent nuclear safety updates from the plant, including cooling water temperatures.

"Based on the plant's information, we can conclude that the emergency diesel generators have been able to reliably provide the power needed for cooling the nuclear fuel in the reactor cores and spent fuel pools," Director General Grossi said.

The ZNPP informed the IAEA team that the site still has fuel reserves for more than 10 days of operation, with regular offsite supplies maintaining this level.

In recent days, the IAEA team members at the site were able to observe the operating EDGs and to confirm that the sprinkler ponds that provide cooling water for the reactor units and spent fuel remain full.

The ZNPP's radiation monitoring as well as the IAEA team's own measurements have continued to show that there has been no increase above normal levels over the past week, both on and outside the site.