Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Relying on Generators Again After Losing Internal Power Supply

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility, lost access to all off-site power on November 8, 2026, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA announced that power was restored several hours later, though the exact cause and location of the disconnection remain unknown.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi characterized the incident as the 27th such event during the conflict, calling it a continuation of the "continued precarious nuclear safety situation" at the facility. The plant, located in Enerhodar in southern Ukraine, has been under Russian occupation since February 2022, while the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia and most of the oblast's population remain under Ukrainian administration.

Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom reported that the site "is again receiving external power supply from the Ukrainian power system" by late November 8, but warned the situation remains "extremely dangerous" with persistent risks to nuclear and radiation safety as long as the plant operates under Russian occupation. Energoatom described this as the 16th complete loss of external power supply since the beginning of 2026, attributing the systematic outages to the Russian occupation.

The outage occurred amid intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Russian air strikes on November 8-9 targeted power systems in eastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, leaving approximately 600,000 people without electricity. Dnipro's military chief Oleksandr Hanzha reported hospitals switching to diesel generators and public transport halting due to the outages.

The Zaporizhzhia plant has a history of power disruptions threatening nuclear safety. In June 2026, a similar outage forced 15 hours of diesel generator use. Drone attacks have repeatedly targeted the facility, including an October 29 incident that killed a plant employee and an August explosion at a bus stop used by plant personnel that killed one person and injured 15 others.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has repeatedly called on military commanders to cease actions threatening nuclear facilities, stating such activities "constitute great risks to nuclear safety and security during the conflict." The agency has maintained a permanent monitoring presence at the Russian-occupied facility since September 2022.