Ukrainian nuclear power plants in Kiev-controlled areas will reach full capacity before winter to supply the country with electricity, Ukraine’s nuclear operator assured on Monday.
• Also read: Ukraine: Mines seen on the site of the Zaporijjia power plant
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“All the electricity we have will feed the electrical system,” Energoatom chairman Petr Kotin told reporters after some reactors were serviced ahead of the winter.
He spoke at the Pivdennoukrainsk power plant in southern Ukraine on the occasion of the restart of one of its three reactors, each with an output of 1,000 megawatts.
Ukraine currently has three power plants – nine reactors in total – on the territory it controls.
The fourth and largest in Europe, that of Zaporijjia – equipped with six reactors – has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022.
“We will return in winter with the nine reactors at full capacity,” Mr. Kotin said, specifying that four reactors currently under repair will be operational before November, for a total capacity of almost 7,600 megawatts.
The power plant “Zaporijjia” is still occupied. Zaporijjia has an output of 6,000 megawatts (…) So it is very important that we regain control over it and therefore “there would be no problem” in supplying electricity to Ukraine, he said. added.
The Kiev Army has been conducting offensive operations in the east and south since early June, particularly near Zaporizhia, in an attempt to retake areas occupied by the Russians since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Kotin says that Ukraine-controlled nuclear power plants “were not directly affected by waves of Russian bombings of the power infrastructure in the fall and winter that powered millions of Ukrainian homes.”
The words of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, did not surprise the Energoatom boss, according to which experts from the agency had not found any explosives on the roofs of the Zaporizhia power plant.
In early July, Ukraine accused Moscow of preparing a “provocation”. The army claimed that “explosive-like objects” were placed on the roofs of reactors 3 and 4.
IAEA experts “had very limited access. They had access to the roofs of two units (out of six). They weren’t allowed to go to other units (…) They (the Russians) just don’t allow them access,” commented Petr Kotin.