CBRN event in Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine on Sat 14th March 2026

Due to Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the "Neutron Source" nuclear facility in Kharkiv operated on generators for 3 days. This was reported by UNN with reference to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine informed the IAEA that on the night of March 11-12, due to attacks targeting and destroying a substation near the subcritical neutron source facility at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, the substation was disconnected from the power grid until March 13. During this outage, the facility was supplied with electricity from emergency diesel generators. - stated the IAEA. In addition, in early March 2026, the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant operated exclusively on a recently repaired backup power line for several hours after scheduled maintenance. On March 18, an unmanned aerial vehicle was detected at the South Ukrainian (Mykolaiv) Nuclear Power Plant. Also, the IAEA team at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant reported that on March 14, the facility was disconnected from the Kyiv 750 kV power line for almost 24 hours.