France on Thursday warned of an “unacceptable risk to nuclear safety and security” from a power outage at Ukraine’s main power plant, after a Russian missile attack knocked out diesel generators.
“France has noted and is concerned about the information about the new connection (of the grid) at the Zaporizhzhia plant,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre.
Electricity is essential to operate the pumps that lower the water to cool the reactors and the ponds that hold the nuclear fuel at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The outage comes amid a new wave of pre-dawn Russian strikes targeting energy infrastructure across the country.
The plant is powered by a generator, which can supply the facility’s energy needs for 10 days, Ukrainian nuclear energy operator Energoatom said.
The head of the UN nuclear agency warned on Thursday of the dangers of repeated power cuts at the site.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said it was the sixth time the Zaporizhzhia facility had been cut off from the power grid since Russia seized it a year ago, and the first time since November.
Grossi has been consulting with Kyiv and Moscow for months to try to create a protection zone around the plant, but those talks appear to have stalled.
France “will continue to support the actions of the IAEA to ensure nuclear safety and security in Ukraine and especially the director general to create a protection zone around the station,” Legendre said.