The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Russia attacked key electricity transmission facilities linked to nuclear power plants on Thursday during their latest assault on Ukraine’s power grid. This is the third attack of this type in almost as many months, raising experts’ concerns about the possibility of a nuclear disaster.
The agency said the Russian attacks had affected electrical substations crucial for Ukraine’s three operational nuclear power plants to transmit and receive power. Although no direct damage was reported to the reactors, all of them reduced their production as a precautionary measure and one was disconnected from the grid.
“Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is extremely fragile and vulnerable, putting nuclear security at serious risk”said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director of the agency, the IAEA, in a statement made public late on Thursday.
Russia has attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the first winter of the war two years ago in an effort to collapse its grid and make life miserable for its citizens. For most of that time, attacks focused on thermal and hydroelectric power plants, along with their transmission facilities, and caused widespread blackouts throughout the country.
Despite everything, the Ukrainian grid did not collapse, mainly because much of its power generation depends on nuclear power plants, which had largely been spared from airstrikes.
The Russian strategy of destroying substations connected to nuclear power plants is more recent and appears intended to collapse Ukraine’s last major power generation capacity. according to experts. The attacks against the substations began in late August, according to the IAEA.
Substations are essential because they distribute power from the reactors to the rest of the country. According to Greenpeace Ukraine nuclear expert Shaun Burnie, Ukraine’s three operating nuclear power plants, which have a total of nine reactors, provide approximately two-thirds of the country’s electricity generation capacity today.
Two plants are in western Ukraine, in the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi regions, while another is further south. A fourth nuclear power plant, near the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, was captured by Russian forces early in the war.
Substations also have a second, no less critical function: they supply nuclear power plants with the electricity necessary to cool the reactors and spent fuel. “The loss of cooling function in one or more reactors would inevitably lead to nuclear fuel meltdown and large-scale radiological release,” Greenpeace warned in a note shared with The New York Times.
United Nations experts issued a similar warning in a statement released Monday. They said that “additional damage to Ukraine’s electrical system could lead to a power blackout that would increase the risk that operating nuclear reactors would lose access to the grid to power their safety systems.” Such an event, the statement said, could cause a serious nuclear catastrophe.
Ukrainian authorities have sought to highlight the new threat in recent months. In September, President Volodimir Zelensky told the United Nations General Assembly that Russia was planning possible catastrophic attacks against Ukraine on “nuclear power plants and infrastructure, with the aim of disconnecting the plants from the electrical grid.”
In response, the Ukrainian government agreed with the IAEA in September to deploy surveillance missions to substations linked to nuclear power plants, to assess damage and try to prevent new attacks. The agency visited seven substations this fall, documenting “extensive damage” and concluding that the grid’s ability “to provide a reliable external power supply” to nuclear plants had “been significantly reduced.”
Ukrainian authorities would like to see the IAEA deploy personnel frequently, or even permanently, to inspect substations, in the hope that their presence could deter further Russian attacks. Greenpeace said in its note that “the Russian government needs the active support of the IAEA to support its global nuclear energy ambitions and therefore cannot risk the safety of IAEA staff in its continued efforts to destroy Ukraine’s electrical system.” .
But so far, UN experts highlighted, the organization has only carried out one supervision mission, with no additional visits announced.
On Friday, Ukraine continued to deal with the aftermath of the major Russian attack on its power grid the day before. Ukrenergo, the national electricity operator, has introduced intermittent blackouts throughout the country to reduce the strain on the system. Some areas, such as the southern regions of Kherson and Mikolaiv, have also been largely without power due to the attacks, local officials said.
Ukrainian authorities reported that Russia used cluster munitions —weapons that break up in the air and scatter small bombs over a wide area—to attack the power grid. These munitions sometimes do not detonate immediately, posing a persistent threat and making it difficult for energy workers sent to repair damaged facilities, who have to wait until the area is cleared of unexploded ordnance. Ukraine has also used cluster munitions in the war.
“The use of these cluster elements considerably complicates the work of our rescuers and energy engineers to mitigate the damage, marking another vile escalation in Russia’s terrorist tactics,” Zelensky said Thursday.
Despite the risks, some energy workers remain at plants during attacks to operate critical equipment. Oleksandr, head of production management at a thermal power plant run by DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said he was working during a recent attack.
“There were two of us working at the station’s central control post,” said Oleksandr, whose last name could not be revealed for security reasons. “I managed to yell ‘Get down!’ to my colleague and instantly everything went dark: dust rose, plaster flew. “The explosion occurred in the turbine area, 150 meters away, just as we fell to the ground.”
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