Zaporozhe 3 enters next 10 years of operation

Ukraine yesterday restarted unit 3 of its Zaporozhe nuclear power plant following a 264-day outage for modernisation work required to extend its operation by 10 years to 2027. Operator Energoatom received the licence to extend the operations of the unit from the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate last week.

Ukraine yesterday restarted unit 3 of its Zaporozhe nuclear power plant following a 264-day outage for modernisation work required to extend its operation by 10 years to 2027. Operator Energoatom received the licence to extend the operations of the unit from the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate last week.

Zaporozhe's six units (Image: Energoatom)

Zaporozhe is Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, comprising six units with a total combined capacity of 6,000 MWe. The units were commissioned in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1995, respectively.

Energoatom said yesterday that five of Zaporozhe's six units are now operating since unit 1 is undergoing scheduled maintenance work. Work to upgrade unit 3 fully complies with International Atomic Energy Agency safety standards, Ukrainian nuclear regulation, and global experience of extending the operating period of nuclear facilities, the company added.

Alexander Ostapovets, general director of the Zaporozhe plant, noted in the company statement that three of the units were now operating under extended licences. Describing the plant as "pioneering" in prolonging the operation of a V-320 reactor, he added that the restart of unit 3 meant half of the plant's reactors were now in service beyond their original licence period.

"We have crossed the halfway point and are only going to increase the pace, using this accumulated experience, because the extension will safely produce several tens of billions of kilowatt-hours of electricity, thereby ensuring the energy stability of the country," he said.

Ukraine has 15 nuclear units in commercial operation at four sites - Khmelnitsky, Rovno, South Ukraine and Zaporozhe - which are all operated by state-owned Energoatom. The units comprise 13 VVER-1000s and two VVER-440s with a total capacity of 13,835 MWe.

Seven of these are operating beyond their original operating licence - Zaporozhe 1, 2 and 3; South Ukraine 1 and 2; and Rovno and 2.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News