Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis

At the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, during the Battle of Enerhodar on 4 March 2022, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) , the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was attacked and occupied by Russian forces. It was the first full-scale military attack and occupation of an operational nuclear power plant in history. It has become the center of an ongoing nuclear safety crisis, described by Ukraine as an act of nuclear terrorism by Russia.

Since September 2022, all six reactors have been placed in various states of shutdown, the same month Russia annexed the region in a disputed referendum. In 2025, Russia confirmed its long-term plans for Rosatom to operate the plant, currently operated by Ukrainian Energoatom staff, and in connection to the Russian power grid. Ukrainian forces have made multiple attempts to recapture the plant, and both sides blame each other for direct and indirect attacks on it. ZNPP has seen destruction of its infrastructure via shelling and damage to its power lines. The future of the plant's safety and electricity production is a significant point in the peace negotiations of the war.

Ukrainian authorities call the crisis the largest situation of its kind in history. Experts vary on whether a potential disaster may exceed the scale of previous disasters at nuclear power plants. According to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), "The situation in Ukraine is unprecedented. It is the first time a military conflict has occurred amid the facilities of a large, established nuclear power program." Nuclear safety expert Attila Aszódi said that an event similar in type and scale to the Chernobyl disaster is technically and physically not possible in the Zaporizhzhia plant, while calling for urgent steps to ensure the safety of the plant. The Bellona Foundation called the crisis "something the world nuclear energy community never thought it would see — and thus never prepared for."