Power Knocked Out at Chernobyl Nuclear Plant: Ukrainian Officials

UN officials say 'no critical impact' has been observed

A sign warns of radiation contamination near former apartment buildings in Pripyat, near Chernobyl, Ukraine, on April 9, 2016. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Power has been cut off from the former nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, according to Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, which blamed the outage on actions by Russian troops who seized the facility nearly two weeks ago.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there has been “no critical impact” to safety after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other officials issued a warning about a potential radiation leak overnight at the site of the 1986 nuclear accident.

The Kyiv government informed the U.N. nuclear agency of power loss at the plant, according to its chief, Rafael Grossi, which he said “violates [a] key safety pillar on ensuring uninterrupted power supply,” according to a Twitter post on March 9.

“IAEA says heat load of spent fuel storage pool and volume of cooling water at Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply,” the IAEA’s Twitter thread stated.

Days after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine began, Russian forces captured the plant, located along the Ukraine–Belarus border and about 60 miles north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials confirmed.

The Chernobyl–Kyiv high-voltage line is currently disconnected “due to damage by the occupiers,” Ukraine’s Energoatom said on March 9, adding that the Chernobyl station and all nuclear facilities of the Exclusion Zone lack power.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 8, 2022. Andrew Marienko/AP Photo

“The only electrical grid supplying the Chornobyl NPP and all its nuclear facilities occupied by Russian army is damaged,” Kuleba also wrote March 9. “CNPP lost all electric supply. I call on the international community to urgently demand Russia to cease fire and allow repair units to restore power supply.

“Reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity to power the Chornobyl NPP. After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent. Putin’s barbaric war puts entire Europe in danger.”

The Ukrainian government warned that like in the 1986 Soviet disaster, the wind could transfer a radioactive cloud across Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of Europe.

Fighting around the nuclear power plant has made it impossible to carry out repairs, the government said.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, told state-run outlets on March 9 that the site was operating as normal.

“Currently, control over the situation at the Chernobyl NPP is being exercised jointly by Russian servicemen, Ukrainian specialists, the plant’s civilian personnel, and that country’s National Guard,” she said, saying that the Ukrainian government’s allegations about a radiation threat are false.

“The actions of the Russian military in this dangerous situation were motivated by the necessity to prevent a nuclear provocation from Ukrainian nationalists, who seem to have nothing to lose. As a matter of fact, they have been trained to do it. That is why Russian troops are taking Ukraine’s nuclear facilities under control.”