Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine, finds itself at the center of a tense international standoff, with its safety hanging in the balance after more than a week cut off from external power. As of October 4, 2025, the facility continues to operate using emergency diesel generators, a situation that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi has called both technically solvable and politically paralyzed.
Grossi, speaking from Vienna, revealed on October 3 that he is engaged in “intense discussions with senior Russian and Ukrainian officials,” presenting what he described as “detailed proposals” aimed at restoring off-site power to the embattled plant. According to Reuters, Grossi is working directly with both Russia and Ukraine, but the path to a solution remains blocked. “Both sides say they stand ready to conduct the necessary repairs on their respective sides of the front line,” Grossi explained. “But for this to happen, the security situation on the ground must improve so that the technicians can carry out their vital work without endangering their lives.”
He did not mince words about the core obstacle: “It is a question of political will, not whether it is technically possible, which it is.” The implication is clear—while the technical means to restore power exist, it is the ongoing conflict and mutual suspicion between Moscow and Kyiv that have left the plant in a precarious limbo.
The current outage, which began on September 23, 2025, marks the tenth complete loss of off-site power (LOOP) for the ZNPP since Russian forces seized the facility early in the 2022 invasion. Yet, this blackout is the longest on record, stretching into a second week and raising alarms among nuclear safety experts worldwide. The plant lost a 330 kilovolt (kV) power line in May due to damage on the Ukrainian side, but the situation became dire when the last remaining 750 kV line was disconnected on September 23, with the fault occurring on territory controlled by Russian forces.
While the ZNPP’s six reactors have been shut down since the early days of the war, the risk remains far from theoretical. Nuclear reactors, even when dormant, require a constant and reliable supply of electricity to cool the nuclear fuel. Without this, there is a real danger of a catastrophic meltdown and the subsequent release of radiation—a scenario that would have devastating consequences not only for Ukraine but for the entire region.
Currently, the plant’s emergency diesel generators (EDGs) are “functioning without problems, and there is also plenty of fuel in reserve,” Grossi assured, as reported by the Kyiv Post. The IAEA’s on-site team confirmed that eight EDGs are in operation, generating enough power to maintain nuclear safety, while twelve additional units remain on standby. Diesel deliveries are being made daily, with reserves sufficient for at least ten days of operation as of October 4. Still, the Director General stressed the unprecedented danger: “If the emergency diesel generators (EDGs) stopped functioning for any reason, it could lead to a complete blackout and possibly cause an accident with the fuel melting and a potential radiation release into the environment, if power could not be restored in time.”
The crisis at Zaporizhzhia is not unfolding in isolation. Earlier this week, another frightening incident occurred at the decommissioned Chornobyl site—the location of the world’s most infamous nuclear disaster in 1986. On October 1, military activity damaged a power line near the town of Slavutych, resulting in a 16-hour off-site power cut to Chornobyl. For three hours, the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the massive steel arch that now covers the destroyed reactor, suffered a partial blackout and lacked backup EDG electricity.
Despite the blackout, the IAEA team at Chornobyl confirmed that radiation monitoring and ventilation systems within the NSC remained operational via an interconnection with other facilities. Importantly, radiation levels never exceeded normal limits during the incident. Still, the event serves as a stark warning of how fragile nuclear safety has become across Ukraine, with war damage threatening the country’s energy infrastructure and the world’s peace of mind.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not hold back in his criticism of the international community’s response. On October 4, he accused Russia of “intentionally creating a risk of radiological incidents, taking advantage, unfortunately, of the weak stance of the IAEA and Director General Rafael Grossi, as well as the dispersed global attention.” Zelensky pointed specifically to the ongoing outage at Zaporizhzhia as a continuous global danger, underscoring the stakes for both Ukraine and the wider world.
While the situation remains fraught with risk, there have been small steps to bolster nuclear security elsewhere in Ukraine. In a modest but welcome development, the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant received two mobile portal monitors, funded by Norway, to enhance its nuclear security measures. This gesture, though minor in the grand scheme, is a reminder that international cooperation and practical support still have a role to play in reducing the risks of nuclear disaster amid war.
The broader context of the crisis at Zaporizhzhia is, of course, the grinding conflict that has engulfed Ukraine since 2022. The nuclear plant, once a symbol of Ukraine’s energy independence, now sits as a pawn in a much larger geopolitical struggle. Both sides—Russia and Ukraine—have publicly stated their willingness to allow repairs, but the reality on the ground is that no technician can safely approach the shattered power lines without assurances of security, which neither side appears willing or able to provide at this stage.
Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Each day that the ZNPP operates on emergency generators is another day of heightened risk. The plant’s staff, working under extraordinary pressure and the ever-present threat of military escalation, continue to keep the facility stable. But as Grossi and the IAEA have repeatedly warned, this is not a sustainable situation. The margin for error is frighteningly slim.
For now, the world watches and waits. The fate of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant—and perhaps the safety of millions—rests not in the hands of engineers or scientists, but in the unpredictable realm of politics and war. As the IAEA’s Director General put it, the solution is not a matter of technology but of “political will.” Whether that will can be summoned before disaster strikes remains the most urgent question of all.
