Europe’s largest nuclear facility, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is once again at the center of global concern as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to rage on. Since September 23, 2025, the plant has endured its longest-ever loss of external power, operating solely on backup diesel generators after all main power lines were disrupted by ongoing hostilities. The precarious situation has alarmed international nuclear authorities, local residents, and governments across the world, reviving memories of the catastrophic Chernobyl disaster nearly four decades ago.
According to multiple reports, including statements from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the plant’s six reactors have been in a cold shutdown for over three years, a measure that reduces the immediate risk of a nuclear accident but does not eliminate it entirely. The backup generators—now the only source of power for the crucial cooling systems—have enough fuel to last about ten days, after which resupply becomes critical. As of early October, eight generator units are running, nine are on standby, and three are undergoing maintenance. Russian staff, who have controlled the facility since seizing it in 2022, are rotating the generators to maintain a steady power supply, while IAEA officials remain on site to monitor safety.
The IAEA’s Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, did not mince words about the gravity of the situation. “Operating on emergency power is clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety,” Grossi stated, according to the IAEA’s official website. He went on to stress, “Neither side would benefit from a nuclear accident.” The agency continues to monitor radiation levels at and around the plant, reporting no increase above normal so far. Still, the local population lives in fear of a repeat of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which exposed around 8.4 million people to radiation, resulted in over 250,000 cancer cases, and caused approximately 100,000 fatalities.
The current crisis at Zaporizhzhia is not without precedent. The plant has experienced ten blackouts since Russian forces occupied the site, but this most recent outage is the longest. The risk, experts warn, is that a total loss of power—including the failure of backup generators—could lead to the meltdown of nuclear fuel, with catastrophic consequences. “This is a matter of political will, not of technical capabilities – because they exist,” Grossi emphasized, urging both Russia and Ukraine to “do everything necessary to prevent any further deterioration.”
Complicating efforts to restore power, both sides have declared their readiness to repair their respective segments of the front line, but ongoing fighting makes it perilous for technicians to access and fix damaged infrastructure. “Both sides state their readiness to carry out the necessary repairs from their side along the front line. But for this, the safety situation on the ground must improve so that technicians can perform critically important work without risking their lives,” Grossi explained. The IAEA has continued to engage with both parties in hopes of brokering a ceasefire around the plant, but so far, the shooting has not stopped long enough to allow repairs.
Adding fuel to the fire, Greenpeace Ukraine, citing satellite imagery from September 27, has accused Russian troops of deliberately sabotaging the last operational power line to the plant. Nuclear energy expert Olga Kosharna echoed concerns about the timing of the outage, noting it coincided with Russian plans to connect Zaporizhzhia to the Russian power grid. The European Union has weighed in as well, urging Russia to immediately cease military operations near the plant, restore external electricity, and withdraw its troops, calling for the station’s return to Ukrainian control as the only long-term solution.
The crisis at Zaporizhzhia is unfolding amid a broader campaign of attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure. On October 2-3, 2025, Russian drone strikes hammered civilian sites, railway depots, and power substations across the country. In Odesa Oblast, a strike on railway infrastructure injured one person and left 46,600 residents without electricity. Fires raged through the night as crews scrambled to restore power. In Slavutych, Kyiv Oblast, drone strikes on an electrical substation led to a blackout that cut off centralized power to the town and caused a more than three-hour outage at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant—another chilling reminder of the risks facing Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of deliberately targeting rail and energy networks to disrupt logistics and put economic pressure on Ukraine. He also claimed that Russian forces are actively preventing Ukrainian specialists from restoring external power to the Zaporizhzhia plant. “Russia is massively destroying Ukraine’s railway infrastructure,” Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksii Kuleba reported, adding that drone and rocket attacks have become a nightly ordeal for many regions.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 86 Shahed-type attack and decoy drones overnight on October 2-3, with air defenses managing to shoot down 53, but 31 reached their targets. The barrage resulted in multiple casualties and injuries: in Sumy Oblast, three people were wounded during 118 attacks on 43 settlements; in Zaporizhzhia, a 73-year-old man was injured amid 587 strikes on 13 settlements; in Kharkiv, one person was killed and 15 wounded; Donetsk saw one killed and another injured; and in Kherson, two deaths and four injuries were reported after a strike on critical infrastructure.
The ongoing hostilities have made it nearly impossible for Ukrainian and Russian technicians to safely access and repair the damaged power lines feeding the Zaporizhzhia plant. The IAEA has repeatedly warned that the current reliance on emergency power is not a viable long-term solution and that the risk of a nuclear accident grows with every passing day of blackout. “I urge both sides to do everything necessary to prevent any further deterioration,” Grossi reiterated, underlining the urgency of the situation.
As the war grinds on, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant stands as a symbol of the broader risks posed by conflict in a country with a substantial nuclear legacy. The shadow of Chernobyl looms large, and while the IAEA and international community continue to press for a solution, the fate of Europe’s largest nuclear plant hangs in the balance, hostage to the politics and violence of war.
