Greenpeace: Russians cause blackout at Europe’s largest nuclear plant located in Ukraine

The longest blackout at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest nuclear facility, was caused by deliberate sabotage by Russian forces, Greenpeace Ukraine reported.

The outage began on Sept. 23 after the last remaining transmission line to the plant was damaged.

“Based on the location of the ZNPP distribution station and the direction of the 750 kV line, Greenpeace estimates that the damage occurred 2-5 km north of the distribution station, along the line heading north from ZNPP toward the Dnipro River,” the report said.

Before the line was lost, there had been no shelling or attacks on the transmission line.

“This indicates deliberate sabotage by Russian troops,” the organization said.

Greenpeace also warned that Russian authorities who control the ZNPP could exploit the power loss to connect the plant to Russia’s energy grid system.

“The next step could be attempts to start at least one nuclear reactor,” Greenpeace said.

ZNPP has been without electricity for nearly a week. This is the tenth and longest blackout at the plant since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022. Backup diesel generators are currently supplying power to the plant’s safety systems.

Oleh Korikov, head of Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, said that Russian disregard for nuclear safety requirements and attacks on power lines could trigger worst-case scenarios, reports Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne.

“The absence of external power supply to ZNPP from Ukraine’s energy system poses significant risks to nuclear and radiation safety,” Korikov said.