nuclear-news

A nuclear meltdown at  Zaporizhzhia would imperil the entire region.

 Russia’s nuclear brinkmanship — a reckless gamble that began with its
occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — has
escalated into a crisis threatening the entire European continent.

In early November, local ceasefires between Ukrainian and Russian forces controlling the ZNPP allowed repair crews to safely restore critical external
electricity lines that had been severed. For a month prior, both the main
and backup external power lines were down, forcing the plant to rely solely
on emergency diesel generators for power vital to reactor cooling and
safety.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has characterised the
ZNPP’s prolonged reliance on diesel generators as “clearly not
sustainable”. But emergency diesel generators were never designed for
extended continuous operation. Industry standards specify preferred mission times of 24 hours.

In the recent outage at ZNPP, generators had been
running for an entire month — far exceeding design specifications — and
the plant recently lost its connection to the main power line again. Each
day of continued operation increases the probability of mechanical failure.

 FT 17th Nov 2025,
https://www.ft.com/content/93130cd5-211c-4ba1-9303-0a550ddac93f

November 21, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, Ukraine