Belarus is supplying electricity to Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power station, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, local Belarusian authorities said Wednesday.

Power at the facility was knocked out on Monday according to Ukrainian authorities after Russian forces damaged a power line, but the International Atomic Energy Agency said later that day it had been informed external power had been restored. It said work was underway to reconnect the facility to the power grid.

"The electrical supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power station is completely restored," the Belarusian energy ministry said in a statement published on the Telegram page of the Gomel region.

"At the current time the electricity supply is being provided from the Belarusian power grid," it added.

The website of the Belarusian energy ministry was unavailable.

Radiation around the power plant, which exploded in 1986 killing hundreds and spreading a radioactive cloud across Europe, remain at normal levels, the statement said citing local monitors.

The station is located close to the Belarusian border.

The retired Chernobyl nuclear reactors are enclosed in a giant steel and concrete sarcophagus but electricity is needed to power security systems including the cooling systems for the spent nuclear fuel storage facility.

But the IAEA said earlier this month that given the time that has passed since the accident in 1986, the heat load and the volume of the cooling pools are together "sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply".

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Ukraine's Chernobyl loses power again: operator
Kyiv (AFP) March 14, 2022
Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, has once again lost its electricity supply, energy operator Ukrenergo said Monday. "The line that supplies the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the town of Slavutych was damaged by the occupying forces," Ukrenergo said on Facebook, referring to Russian forces that invaded Ukraine on February 24 and seized the plant in the first days of the assault. The retired nuclear plant - enclosed in a giant s ... read more