Ukraine's
Largest Nuclear Power Plant Suffers 2nd Emergency Shutdown In 3 Weeks
28
December, 2014
Following
a reported "minor" accident three weeks
ago, Ukraine's Zaporizhia
nuclear power plant, Europe's
largest and
the 5th biggest in the world, was shutdown. The
'glitch' it appears has reoccurred as RT
reports, one
of the reactors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant has
automatically shut down.
Causes are still being investigated.
- *UKRAINE’S LARGEST NUCLEAR PLANT REPORTS EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN: RT
As
RT reports,
One of the reactors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant has automatically shut down after a glitch. This is the second halt in operations in recent weeks at the plant in Ukraine’s southeast, which covers at least one fifth of the country’s power needs.
“Unit 6 at Zaporizhzhya NPP was disconnected from the network by the automatic system that prevents damage to the generator. The reactor is running at 40 percent of nominal power,” the plant’s official website says stressing that radiation at the facility is equal to the natural background, which is 8-12 microroentgen/hour.
This accident took place on Sunday morning at 05:59 am local time (03:59 GMT). Causes are still being investigated, while the Energy Ministry hopes to restart the unit in the coming days. The remaining five reactors continue to generate an estimated 4,530 MW.
The previous incident at Zaporizhia NPP happened on November 28, but the fact went public five days later, when Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk revealed it during the first session of his new cabinet.
*
* *
Of course, there is no way to actually know what is happening on the ground as the NPP is located close enough to the "fog of war", that its status, and updates thereof, could merely be part of the fog of war. That said, if there is an unspoken message here by Ukraine, which recently handed over its gold to unknown "Western" interests, and suddenly feels neglected by its western allies (as its central bank head is about to find out personally), it is targeted directly at the IMF: "hand over more loans, or the nuclear power plant gets it."
*
* *
Which
raises the following question...
More from RT
Zaporizhia
is the largest nuclear power plant not only in Ukraine, but also in
Europe and also the fifth largest NPP in the world. It is on the bank
of the Kakhovka water reservoir on the Dnieper River, some 200
kilometers from the rebel Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s
four nuclear power plants constitute a huge part of the country's
energy system. Fifteen nuclear reactors produce at least 50 percent
(over 13 megawatt) of all electric power in Ukraine. Zaporizhia NPP
alone produces up to 22 percent of all electricity generated in the
country.
Two
Zaporizhia NPP reactors are to be decommissioned for complete
overhaul in February 2015 having operated for 30 years. Unit 1 will
be out for maintenance for 129 days.
The
new accident at Zaporizhia NPP might deteriorate the catastrophic
energy shortage Ukraine is currently witnessing, as its fossil power
plants have run out of coal.
National
energy company Ukrenergo has launched emergency power cuts all over
the country to help sustain energy. Consumers are experiencing
blackouts that last for hours every day. Ukrainian enterprises are
forced to limit their energy consumption and to switch to night
production.
Kiev
authorities have been refusing to buy coal from the Donetsk and
Lugansk regions, as they don’t want “to
sponsor” the
rebels, and instead turned to other countries. Those attempts were
unsuccessful due to general inability to pay or the fact that the
supplied coal didn’t fit Ukraine’s energy production.
On
Saturday, the Russian president’s spokesman said Russia will supply
coal and electricity to Ukraine without prepayment.
Throughout
2014 Zaporizhzhya NPP came into the spotlight of world media on
several occasions. In May, Ukrainian police prevented a group of
armed men, reportedly from the Right Sector neo-Nazi paramilitary
group, from entering Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
Then
the news came that Kiev had signed a new deal with America’s
leading nuclear fuel producer, Westinghouse Electric Company, instead
of the Russian TVEL company that has been supplying fuel rods to
Ukraine for years. This was done despite the fact that using US fuel
rods was banned in 2012 due to dangerous incompatibility.
In
August, Greenpeace expressed concern that Zaporizhia NPP is
vulnerable to ‘direct bombardment’ in Ukraine if caught in the
conflict.
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