Eight of 15 Ukrainian Reactors Remain in Operation After Three Weeks of War
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 16 that eight of the country’s 15 nuclear reactors were in operation despite the ongoing Russian invasion. Of the four sites with operational units, two of six at Zaporizhzhya, three of four at Rivne, one of two at Khmelnytskyy, and two of three at South Ukraine were in operation.
At the Zaporizhzhya site, which Russian forces took control of on March 4, Ukrainian staff have continued to operate Units 2 and 4. The units are running at “slightly decreased” power supplies to the grid because some power lines had been damaged by the fighting. The plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant (NPP) in Europe, has four high-voltage (750-kV) offsite power lines. Two of the four were damaged earlier and a third line was lost on Wednesday. The station also has a standby line, which, with the one remaining power line, “were sufficient to ensure that all safety systems remained fully functional without limitations,” the IAEA said.…
