FILE PHOTO: A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant before the arrival of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo
(Reuters) -Repair work has started on damaged off-site power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following a four-week outage, officials said on Saturday.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the work began after local ceasefire zones were established to allow for the repairs to proceed.
The plant currently produces no electricity, but needs power to ensure fuel in the reactors remains cool and no meltdown occurs.
"Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security. Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable a complex repair plan to proceed," Grossi said in a post on social media platform X.
Both the Ukrainian energy ministry and the Russian-appointed management of the plant confirmed the maintenance works.
The Zaporizhzhia plant - Europe's largest, with six reactors - was seized by Russian troops in the first weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Both Kyiv and Moscow regularly accuse each other of attacks that endanger nuclear safety. Located near the city of Enerhodar along the Dnipro river, the power plant is close to the front line.
During more than three and a half years of the war, the plant was frequently disconnected from the power grid, but the latest outage was one of the longest.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said that connecting the plant to the Ukrainian grid and ensuring its stable operation by Ukrainian experts were fundamental to preventing a nuclear incident.
The Russian-appointed management of the plant said Russia's Defence Ministry would play a key role in ensuring the safety of the repair work.
(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru, Filipp Lebedev in London and Olena Harmash in Kyiv; Editing by Jan Harvey)
