External power was restored on Wednesday (12 October) to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine, a few hours after its connection to the grid was cut for a second time in less than a week, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said.

The IAEA team of experts present at the six-unit nuclear facility, the largest in Europe, said the station’s connection to its last remaining operating 750 kilovolt (kV) power line was re-established around 13:40 local time, enabling the plant to switch off the diesel generators that had been providing the reactors with electricity after offsite power was lost in the morning.

Grossi welcomed the restoration of external power but stressed that the power situation at Zaporizhzhia remained “very fragile”.

Ukraine’s national nuclear operator Energoatom earlier said shelling had caused the offsite power loss by damaging a sub-station – part of the grid’s electrical transmission and distribution system – located far from the station itself.