2020-11-18T18:02:00+02:00 Economy 2024-09-15T09:18:21+03:00

Ukrainian news

Energoatom To Connect Power Unit 2 Of Zaporizhia NPP After Repairs Before November 25

Energoatom To Connect Power Unit 2 Of Zaporizhia NPP After Repairs Before November 25

The Energoatom national nuclear energy generating company intends to connect the power unit No. 2 of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (Zaporizhia NPP, Enerhodar, Zaporizhia region) after scheduled preventive maintenance until November 25.

Energoatom has said this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Power unit No. 2 of the Zaporizhia NPP is ready for a set of parameters and connection to the grid and is awaiting a launch meeting with the participation of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, which is scheduled for November 19. Taking this into account, the expected date for connecting the unit to the grid is no later than November 25, 2020," the statement reads.

It is also reported that at the beginning of November, power units No. 2 and No. 4 of the Zaporizhia NPP were already ready for launch, but, according to the permission of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, power unit No. 4 of the Zaporizhia NPP was connected to the grid only on November 14.

At the same time, it is reported that it was the artificial restrictions on the production of electricity at the Zaporizhia NPP in April-August by the Ministry of Energy that led to a shift in the timing of the repair campaign.

The statement says that the planned repair of Zaporizhia NPP-2 was delayed from June by two months due to the actions of the ministry.

"Due to the unjustified restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Energy, the unit with a capacity of 1,000 MW produced only 580 MW, then it was put into reserve for three weeks, and then it worked again with a limit of almost 40%. As a result, the life of nuclear fuel was shifted and planned repairs had to start two months later," the company explained, specifying that as a result, the repairs ended not in early September, as planned, but in November.

A similar situation occurred with the maintenance of power units 4 and 5 of the Zaporizhia NPP.

It is also reported that in connection with the introduction of balance restrictions by the Ministry of Energy, the Forecast balance of the unified energy system of Ukraine for 2020 was revised and the volume of Energoatom's products was reduced from 80.6 billion kWh to 73.7 billion kWh.

“This decision of the relevant ministry did not take into account either the technical standards for the operation of NPP power units, or the scheduled maintenance schedules. The result of the decisions of the Ministry of Energy was an increase in electricity production by thermal power plants, the share of which in the total energy balance of the country during periods of maximum artificial limitation of the power of NPP power units began to exceed the traditionally largest share of nuclear generation. Energoatom has repeatedly warned the relevant ministry about what threats the introduced artificial limitation of the power of Ukrainian nuclear power plants poses and what technical consequences this will entail,” the statement reads.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported, earlier the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities Andrii Herus (Servant of the People faction) said that the Energoatom national nuclear energy generating company will launch one power unit to cover the shortage of electricity in the united energy system (UES) of Ukraine on November 14-15.

On August 11, Energoatom disconnected power unit No. 2 of the Zaporizhia NPP from the power grid for scheduled preventive maintenance.

The Zaporizhia NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, has 6 power units of the VVER-1000 type with a total installed electrical capacity of 6 GW.