A recent drone attack at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant prompted an emergency meeting by the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors, during which the agency again called for the immediate removal of Russian military and personnel from the site.

The American Nuclear Society (ANS) condemns the recent drone attacks at Ukraine’s shutdown Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and supports the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors in its continued call for an immediate removal of Russian military and personnel from ZNPP.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost the connection to its only remaining backup power line last Thursday amid renewed indications of military activity in the area, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported.

International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi visited Russia this week to discuss the “future operational status” of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Russian shelling is being blamed for damage to the single remaining power source to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located on the front lines of the ongoing military conflict.

“After another attack by the Russians, the line that provided the energy supply to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station was damaged,” Ukraine's power grid operator Ukrenergo said in a February 21 statement.

Ukraine plans to start construction on four new nuclear plants this summer or fall, the country’s energy minister said in televised remarks today.

The quicker timeline aims to compensate Ukraine for lost energy capacity as its war with Russia continues. Ukraine’s government, however, still needs to sign off on the plans.

“We need vessels,” said energy minister German Galushchenko.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has taken action to ensure an immediate supply of backup electricity at the site in case the main external power line is lost.

Amid Ukraine's ongoing military conflict with Russia, Zaporizhzhia has experienced frequent power cuts. Since August 2022, the plant has suffered eight events with a complete loss of off-site power, according to a statement from International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

Blaming “the criminal actions of the ruscists,” Ukraine nuclear plant operator Energoatom this morning reported a primary-to-secondary reagent leak at Unit 5 of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), as well as a partial blackout at the facility earlier this week. (The term “ruscist” [рашизм] is a portmanteau of the words “Russian” and “fascist.”)

Explosions near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in western Ukraine early Wednesday shattered windows at the facility and temporarily cut off power to some off-site radiation monitoring stations, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on October 25.

During a walkdown at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on July 23, a team of International Atomic Energy Agency experts reported seeing “some” directional antipersonnel mines in a buffer zone between the Russian-occupied site’s internal and external perimeter barriers, the agency announced yesterday.

The European Union has selected a Westinghouse-led consortium to develop and deliver “a secure, fully European nuclear fuel supply” for Russian-designed VVER reactors in the EU and Ukraine, the U.S.-based firm announced last week.

WASHINGTON, DC — American Nuclear Society professionals continue to monitor information about conditions at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and to offer insights into relevant engineering and safety issues.

International Atomic Energy Agency experts at Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have so far been unable to verify recent claims by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia may have planted explosives at the site to “simulate an attack.”

The American Nuclear Society continues to monitor official statements and social media “chatter” regarding the status of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

A Soviet-era dam downstream from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine collapsed last evening, causing the water level of the Kakhovka Reservoir north of the dam to drop and raising new concerns over the already jeopardized safety of the Russian-occupied nuclear facility, Europe’s largest. The reservoir supplies water for, among other things, Zaporizhzhia’s cooling systems.

Washington, D.C. — The American Nuclear Society Rapid Response Taskforce is monitoring the impact of the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam on the upstream Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Based on the best available information we believe there is enough water at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to cool its six shutdown reactors, even if the downstream Nova Kakhovka dam is breached and the adjacent reservoir is drained.

As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, the International Atomic Energy Agency has released Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards in Ukraine, an overview of the conflict’s impact on the beleaguered nation’s nuclear facilities and of the agency’s actions to lessen the likelihood of a nuclear accident.

As if being stuck in the middle of a combat zone isn’t sufficiently nerve-racking, workers at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant—under Russian occupation since last March—must now concern themselves with having access to enough water to keep the facility safe.

In what it is calling a “major expansion” of its efforts to prevent a severe nuclear accident befalling Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday announced that it is deploying teams of nuclear security and safety experts this week to the beleaguered nation’s nuclear power plants and the Chernobyl site. (The agency has already stationed a team of experts at Ukraine’s largest nuclear facility, the six-unit Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian military occupation since last March.)