This article may be affected by the following current event: Battle of Zaporizhzhia. Information in this article may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (March 2022) |
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station | |
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Official name | Запорізька атомна електростанція |
Country | Ukraine (de jure) Russia (de facto)[1] |
Location | Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Oblast |
Coordinates | 47°30′30″N 34°35′04″E / 47.50833°N 34.58444°ECoordinates: 47°30′30″N 34°35′04″E / 47.50833°N 34.58444°E |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | Unit 1: 1 April 1980 Unit 2: 1 January 1981 Unit 3: 1 April 1982 Unit 4: 1 April 1983 Unit 5: 1 November 1985 Unit 6: 1 June 1986 |
Commission date | Unit 1: 25 December 1985 Unit 2: 15 February 1986 Unit 3: 5 March 1987 Unit 4: 14 April 1988 Unit 5: 27 October 1989 Unit 6: 17 September 1996 |
Owner(s) | Energoatom |
Operator(s) | Energoatom |
Nuclear power station | |
Reactors | 6 |
Reactor type | PWR |
Reactor supplier | Atomstroyexport |
Cooling towers | 2 |
Cooling source | Kakhovka Reservoir |
Thermal capacity | 6 × 3000 MWth |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 6 × 950 MW |
Make and model | 6 × VVER-1000/320 |
Nameplate capacity | 5700 MW |
Capacity factor | 58.68% |
Annual net output |
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External links | |
Website | www |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station (Ukrainian: Запорізька атомна електростанція, romanized: Zaporizʹka atomna elektrostantsiya[2]) in southeastern Ukraine is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river. It is operated by Energoatom, who operate Ukraine's three other nuclear power stations also.
The plant has 6 VVER-1000 pressurized light water nuclear reactors (PWR), each fuelled with 235U (LEU)[3] and generating 950 MWe, for a total power output of 5,700 MWe.[4] The first five were successively brought online between 1985 and 1989, and the sixth was added in 1995. The plant generates nearly half of the country's electricity derived from nuclear power,[5] and more than a fifth of total electricity generated in Ukraine.[6]
The Zaporizhzhia thermal power station is nearby. On 4 March 2022, both plants were captured by Russian forces during the battle of Zaporizhzhia of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7][8][9][10] The plant is reportedly now controlled by the Russian company Rosatom.[11]
In 2017 modernization work was completed on unit 3, enabling a 10 year life-extension to 2027.[5] In 2021 modernization work was completed on unit 5, enabling a 10 year life-extension.[12]
In May 2014, 40 armed members claiming to be representatives of Right Sector allegedly tried to gain access to the power plant area.[13] The men were stopped by the Ukrainian police before entering into Enerhodar.
The Zaporizhzhia power plant is located around 200 km away from the War in Donbas combat zone, where fighting became very severe in 2014. On 31 August 2014, a Greenpeace member, Tobias Münchmeyer, expressed concerns the plant could be hit by heavy artillery from the fighting.
On 3 December 2014, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk announced the occurrence of an incident several days before at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.[14] The cause of the incident was reported as a short circuit in the power outlet system and was not linked to the site's production.[15] One of the six reactors of the plant was shut down twice in December 2014.[16] This and lack of coal for Ukraine's coal-fired power stations led to rolling blackouts throughout the country from early until late December 2014.[16]
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, Energoatom shut down Units 5 and 6 to reduce risk, keeping Units 1 to 4 in operation on 25 February 2022.[17]
On 3 March 2022, artillery strikes by Russian forces damaged some buildings at the plant.[18][19][20][21] A fire occurred near reactor Unit 1, but essential equipment was not damaged.[22][23] A U.S. official said that the reactor was being safely shut down.[24] After an intense battle, Russian troops captured the power plant after confirming that there were no changes to radiation levels.[9][10]
As of 04:20 UTC on March 4, the IAEA said that the fire, which was in a training building, had been extinguished. It did not impact reactor safety or any essential equipment.[25][26] The plant lost 1.3 GW of capacity which then was compensated by additional 9 power units in the thermal power station nearby.[27]
The Ukrayinska Pravda reported on March 12 that the plant's management was told by Russian authorities that the plant now belonged to Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear power company.[11]
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Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2022-03-15 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=1763005