The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was forced to go into a “total blackout mode” due to the recent shelling, Enerhoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, reports.
“Yesterday, 2 November 2022, two of the last high-voltage lines connecting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant with the Ukrainian power grid were damaged after Russia’s shelling. At 23:04, the station moved into a total blackout mode. All 20 diesel generators switched on,” the company said in a statement.
Enerhoatom adds that 9 diesel generators are currently powering the plant. The fifth and the sixth power units moved into a “cold position”. According to the energy operator, the power plant has enough fuel to keep going for 15 days in the state of a total blackout.
On 2 November, Rosenergoatom (Russian energy operator) CEO Renat Karchaa said that the fifth and the sixth reactors of the Zaporizhzhia plant were moved to a hot position.
“This is such a state of the power units when they are heated to a certain level but at the same time not generating energy. Units work to maintain heat,” he added.