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Unit 3 of Zaorozhye NPP re-launched and connected to Ukraine’s energy system

KIEV, December 5 /TASS/. Unit 3 of the Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant has been re-launched after repairs and connected to Ukraine’s energy system, Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate reported on its website.

“The radiological situation on the NPP and the adjacent areas has not changed. It continues to be at a level necessary for the normal operation of nuclear power units,” the Inspectorate said.

A short circuit occurred at the plant’s voltage transformer yard on November 28, 2014, causing Unit 3 to automatically shut down.

“Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said that no radioactive materials had been released because of the shutdown. It preliminarily estimated the event to be a level 0-rated event on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. The scale ranges from 0 to 7, with level 0 used for situations that have no safety significance,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its statement on December 3.

The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is the biggest energy facility in Ukraine and Europe with a capacity of 6,000 MW. It has six 1 million kW nuclear power units launched successively in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1995.

The share of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s power sector has increased from 2% to 22% since 1984.

Ukraine’s nuclear power stations have a total of 15 power units, of which only 12 are operating. The repairs of the first power unit of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is to be over by December 30; the repairs of the first power unit of the Khmelnitskaya nuclear power plant will finish on December 15.

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