Six of Ukraine’s 15 working nuclear reactors have stopped sending power to the country’s electricity grid — a high degree of disconnection compared to routine operations before the Russian invasion. The reduction in production may be due to the interference of the war in the operation of the factories, which require a wealth of industrial supplies and care. The cuts, Western experts say, could result in power outages that could further cripple the besieged country.
“To put it simply, nuclear power plants are not designed for war zones,” James M. Acton, a nuclear analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a recent report. Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, he added, could “become the target of a war that will disrupt their operations anyway.”
Ukraine has four sprawling complexes in different parts of the country that house its 15 operational reactors. The disconnections from the country’s power grid are reported by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, which is located in Kiev and submits daily updates. For example, on February 1, it reported that all of Ukraine’s nuclear reactors were sending power to the power grid. It is not uncommon for individual reactors to go offline for maintenance and other purposes.
By contrast, last Sunday, three days after the invasion, the state agency began reporting an unusual degree of disconnection: Six of the country’s 15 reactors were offline. The updates of the inspection provide bare facts and no reasons for the malfunctions.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in eastern Ukraine is the site with the most reactors offline. It is located north of Crimea, astride one of Russia’s main invasion routes. The site is the largest nuclear reactor complex in not only Ukraine but also in Europe, and three of the six reactors are currently not generating electricity.
On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which sets safety standards for the world’s nuclear reactors, reported that Russian troops were “advancing close” to Zaporizhzhya but had not entered the complex.