Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant

Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station
The six units of the Zaporizhia NPP. The Zaporizhia coal power plant is also visible to the left.
Location of Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant
Official name	Запорізька АЕС
Country	Ukraine
Location	Enerhodar
Coordinates	47°30′44″N 34°35′09″E / 47.51222°N 34.58583°E / 47.51222; 34.58583Coordinates: 47°30′44″N 34°35′09″E / 47.51222°N 34.58583°E / 47.51222; 34.58583
Status	Operational
Construction began	1981
Commission date	1985
Owner(s)	Energoatom^[1]
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	VVER
Reactor supplier	Mintyazhmash
Power generation
Units operational	6 × 950 MW_e
Make and model	Electrotyazhmash
Nameplate capacity	5,700 MW_e
Annual output	9×10¹⁹ Joule

The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station (Ukrainian: Запорізька АЕС) 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 MW_e, for a total power output of 5,700 MW_e.^[2] The first five were successively brought online between 1985 and 1989, and the sixth was added in 1995. The plant was said to still be in construction till 2030 and will generate a bigger amount of power. The plant generates about 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.

2014 unrest

In May 2014, 40 armed members pretending to be representatives of Right Sector allegedly tried to gain access to the power plant area.^[3] 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."^[4]

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.^[5]

Accidents

2014 accident

On 3 December 2014, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk announced the occurrence of an accident several days before at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.^[6] The cause of the accident was reported as a short circuit in the power outlet system and was not linked to the site's production.^[7] One of the six reactors of the plant was shut down twice in December 2014.^[8] 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.^[8]