SE NNEGC Energoatom is ready to put into operation all 15 power units of 4 Ukrainian nuclear power plants next winter, company president Petr Kotin said on Ukrainian radio on Wednesday.
“We are ready to launch all 15 power units from the Energoatom generation side,” Kotin said.
At the same time, he explained that the largest in Ukraine and occupied by Russian invaders, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, is currently operating at half capacity due to damage to power lines.
“Everything will depend on the end of hostilities. If we liberate the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and resume the operation of the damaged lines, then we will be able to work with all six power units at the ZNPP,” the head of Energoatom said.
At the same time, according to him, the remaining nine power units in the territory controlled by Ukraine will be ready to operate at full capacity.
“We are optimistic about these events and the fact that we will pass the heating season,” the president of NAEK stressed.
As reported, Energoatom used the practice of operating 15 power units in January-February this year, which caused ambiguous comments from experts regarding the optimal loading of the energy system in terms of the structure of generating capacities.
However, in the upcoming heating season 2022-23. The launch of the maximum number of NPP power units can be facilitated by an increase in electricity exports to the EU countries by the end of 2022 to approximately 1,000 MW.
Ukraine has connected power unit No. 1 of the Khmelnytsky NPP to the power grid, as a result of which eight of the 15 existing power units are operating in the power system, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported, citing the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.
“Ukraine said one of the two units at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) had been reconnected to the grid after regulator maintenance,” according to the IAEA daily report on Ukraine on its website late on Wednesday.
As a result, eight of Ukraine’s 15 reactors are currently operating, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia NPP, three at the Rivne NPP, two at the Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP, and now one at the Khmelnytsky NPP.
“The seven other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance or held in reserve,” the agency said.
As reported, Ukraine stopped power unit No. 1 of the Khmelnytsky NPP on April 2, it remained in operation after power unit No. 2 was put into repair from February 18 for scheduled preventive repairs lasting approximately 92 days.
Before that, according to the IAEA, power unit No. 2 of the Rivne NPP was put out for repair.
