Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is Europe's largest nuclear facility, with six VVER-1000 reactors and a total installed capacity of 5,700 MW, located at Enerhodar on the Dnipro River in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. Russian forces seized the plant in March 2022. All six reactors have been in cold shutdown since September 2022, but spent fuel cooling and containment systems require continuous external power. IAEA observers have been on-site since September 2022. Russia's nuclear regulator Rostekhnadzor issued 10-year operating licences for units 1 and 2 in April 2026, treating the plant as Russian territory through 2036. No Western government recognises this claim.

ZNPP suffered its most serious reactor-proximate strike of the war on 30-31 May 2026, when a drone hit the turbine building adjacent to reactor 6, the first confirmed strike on a reactor-adjacent structure. IAEA confirmed debris and a damaged metal hatch; radiation readings remained normal. The plant had already endured a 12-hour communications blackout on 27 May, the longest of the war, and the main 750 kV Dniprovska feeder has been disconnected for over 70 days. Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev accused Ukraine of a deliberate fibre-optic-guided drone strike on the reactor building and said the incident brought the region 'one step closer to a nuclear incident'; IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi condemned the attack.

Prior to the reactor-6 strike, ZNPP had passed day 70 on its sole remaining backup line (Ferosplavna-1) after the main 750 kV Dniprovska feeder went down on 24 March 2026. A drone strike on 3 May had already destroyed the External Radiation Control Laboratory's meteorological monitoring equipment. Rostekhnadzor had issued 10-year operating licences for units 1 and 2 in April 2026. Emergency diesel generators have run during every total power-loss event; the longest confirmed run was approximately 90 minutes. A fourth total power loss with diesel failure would push the plant into uncharted territory in under two hours. No sixth local Ceasefire for infrastructure repairs has been agreed; the reactor-6 strike has further degraded Grossi's Mediation track.

An IAEA team visiting Enerhodar on 1 July 2026 confirmed that a drone strike on 30 June had damaged the fire station supporting the plant's emergency response, significantly reducing its firefighting capacity. The damage compounds existing safety pressures at ZNPP, coming after the reactor-6 turbine hall strike and prolonged reliance on the single Ferosplavna-1 backup feeder, and leaves the site with reduced capacity to respond to any future fire emergency.