The South Ukrainian nuclear power plant of the Mykolaiv region lost power due to a malfunction of the water pump, not due to an accident.
This was reported by the head of the State Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority Oleh Korikov.
At the South Ukrainian NPP, increased vibration of the pumping unit, which ensures pumping of water through the reactor, was recorded. That is, one of the four pumps that ensure the operation of the nuclear power plant is not working now. Due to this, the South Ukrainian NPP power unit produces three times less electricity.
According to Korikov, "Energoatom" is planning a set of measures to restore the operation of this unit. After repair, the power unit will be able to reach full capacity. However, he did not name the terms.
What preceded
The director of the Energy Research Center Oleksandr Kharchenko reported on September 3 that an accident had occurred at the South Ukrainian NPP — the power unit reduced output by 600 MW, as a result of which Ukrenergo introduced additional series of blackouts across Ukraine.
The “Energoatom” company denied the information about the accident at the South Ukrainian NPP.
What is happening around the South Ukrainian NPP
On July 26, the IAEA confirmed that the power unit at the South Ukrainian NPP was shut down due to a problem with the transformer. Information that three current transformers burned down at the South Ukrainian NPP in three days appeared on July 18. Then they wrote that the accidents occurred due to abnormal heat. The next day, the Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that the claims about the accident at the nuclear power plant were a Russian fake.
His words were later refuted by the MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who, upon request to “Ukrenergo”, received information that an "extraordinary event" had indeed occurred at the South Ukrainian NPP, due to which the current transformers were damaged. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy continued to insist that the information about the accident at the South Ukrainian NPP was fake.
- During the Russian attack on August 26, four power units at Ukrainian nuclear power plants were disconnected from the grid. In particular, due to fluctuations in the power system, the third unit of the Southern Ukrainian NPP was turned off.