Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant


The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, Ukraine, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the top 10 largest in the world.

Overview

The plant is located in Central Ukraine near the city of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river. It has 6 VVER-1000 pressurized light water nuclear reactors, each generating 950 MWe, for a total power output of 5,700 MWe. 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, and more than a fifth of total electricity generated in Ukraine. The Zaporizhia coal power station is also located nearby.
In 2017 modernisation work was completed on unit 3, enabling a 10 year life-extension to 2027.

2014 unrest

In May 2014, 40 armed members claiming to be representatives of Right Sector allegedly tried to gain access to the power plant area. The men were stopped by the Ukrainian police before entering into Enerhodar. The real intentions of the armed members are unclear as the Right Sector claimed they had, "no plans to storm the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant."
The Zaporizhia power plant is located around 200 km away from the War in Donbass combat zone, where fighting has become 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.

Incidents

2014 Incident

On 3 December 2014, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk announced the occurrence of an incident several days before at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. 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. One of the six reactors of the plant was shut down twice in December 2014. This and lack of coal for Ukraine's coal-fired power stations lead to rolling blackouts throughout the country from early till late December 2014.

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