External power line to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been restored, management says

Dec 29 (Reuters) - An external power link has been restored to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine after the completion of repairs, the plant's Russian management said on Monday.

A statement said the line had been put out of action by "fire from the Ukrainian armed forces". Repairs were carried out with monitors present from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. It said the situation at the plant was under control, with normal radiation levels.

The station is connected to the power grid by two lines -- the second had remained in operation through the repair work.

In September and October, the plant was without external power for 30 days, relying on backup diesel generators, until a damaged line was reconnected during a local ceasefire arranged with the IAEA's help.

Russian forces seized the nuclear plant, Europe's largest, in the early weeks of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and each side regularly accuses the other of actions endangering safety there.

The plant is not producing electricity but relies on external power to keep nuclear fuel cool and avoid a meltdown.

The future of the plant's operations is one of the sticking points in talks to resolve the nearly four-year-old conflict pitting Moscow against Kyiv.

Almost all countries consider that it belongs to Ukraine but Russia says it is owned by Russia and a unit of Russia's state-owned Rosatom nuclear corporation runs the plant.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in December that the U.S. had proposed joint trilateral operation of the nuclear power plant with an American chief manager.  

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )