The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the 1986 disaster, lost all external power on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed. This outage affects not only the plant itself, but also several regional power lines supplying other nuclear facilities in the country.
The IAEA Director General, Rafael Grossi, indicated that the agency "closely monitored the evolving situation in order to assess its impact on nuclear safety"He specified that several Ukrainian electrical substations, essential to the safety of the facilities, had been damaged during military activities, and that power lines to other nuclear power plants were also affected, complicating the management of the event.
A power plant that depends on external electricity
Although the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has not produced electricity for two decades, it still relies on an external power source to operate its cooling, monitoring, and radiological safety systems. Emergency diesel generators can provide temporary power, but they are not designed for prolonged operation without an external grid connection.
Prolonged power outages could affect the ventilation system, radiological monitoring devices, and spent fuel storage facilities. although operators constantly monitor these parameters.
Repeated incidents
This power outage follows repeated incidents around Ukrainian nuclear facilities since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. In October 2025, a similar power outage was reported in Chernobyl after an attack on a substation in Slavutych, leaving the plant without external power for several hours.
The containment structure known as "New Safe Confinement", built to enclose the reactor destroyed in 1986, has also suffered damage during drone attacks, degrading its main containment capacity, although its load-bearing structures and monitoring systems remain intact.
Pressure on other nuclear facilities
Power supply problems are not unique to Chernobyl. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, has repeatedly experienced external power outages since the start of the conflict. By 2025, it was relying on a single power line to maintain its critical safety functions after several lines were damaged. Backup lines have since been restored following emergency repairs and negotiations for a local ceasefire.
