A recent rise in offsite power losses at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station in Ukraine highlights the fragility of the electrical grid serving the site and the need for continued efforts to help prevent a nuclear accident during the military conflict, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi said.

The facility, near the frontline of fighting in southeast Ukraine, has lost access to external power twice in the past week, bringing the total number of such events since the conflict began to 24, the IAEA said. Twelve of these have occurred in the past four months alone.

On 1 August and again on 4 August, Zaporizhzhya lost connection to its sole remaining offsite power line, the 330 kilovolt (kV) Ferosplavna-1 line, for brief periods. In both cases, the site’s available emergency diesel generators started operating automatically and provided power to the plant’s vital safety systems, including for reactor cooling.