South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant

South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant
South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant
Official name	Південноукраїнська АЕС
Country	Ukraine
Location	Yuzhnoukrainsk, Mykolaiv Oblast
Coordinates	47°49′0″N 31°13′0″E / 47.81667°N 31.21667°E
Status	Operational
Construction began	Unit 1: 1 August 1976; Unit 2: 1 July 1981; Unit 3: 1 November 1984
Commission date	Unit 1: 2 December 1983; Unit 2: 6 April 1985; Unit 3: 29 December 1989
Owner(s)	Energoatom
Operator(s)	Energoatom
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	PWR
Reactor supplier	Atomstroyexport
Cooling source	Tashlytske Reservoir
Thermal capacity	3 × 3000 MWth
Power generation
Units operational	3 × 950 MW
External links
Website	sunpp.mk.ua[dead link]
Commons	Related media on Commons
	[edit on Wikidata]

The South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant (Ukrainian: Південноукраїнська АЕС), also known as the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant, is a nuclear power plant in Ukraine, near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk in Mykolaiv Oblast, about 350 kilometres (220 mi) south of Kyiv. It is the second largest of the country's five nuclear power stations. It is part of the South Ukrainian Energy Complex, along with the Tashlyk Pumped-Storage Power Plant and Oleksandrivska hydroelectric power station.

It has three VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors and a net generation capacity of 2,850 megawatts (MW). In 2013, following major upgrade work, unit 1 was given a 10-year license extension, which will take it beyond its original 30-year design lifetime. Similar extensions are planned for units 2 and 3, licensed until 2015 and 2019, respectively.^[1]

The 750 kV Vetrino–Isaccea–Yuzhnoukrainsk powerline runs from the plant to Isaccea, Romania, but is mostly dismantled or ruined.^{[citation needed]}

The three reactor buildings and other infrastructure

History

The main supplier of fuel for nuclear power plants in Ukraine has been TVEL, with whom NNEGC signed a contract for the supply of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian WMR in 1997 until 2010.

Under a US-Ukrainian initiative to reduce Ukraine's dependency on Russia for fuel, tied to the dismantling of its nuclear weapon arsenal, Energoatom had been using reactor core of unit 3 to test nuclear fuel produced by Westinghouse Electric Company in Västerås in Sweden, mixed with Russian assemblies. In August 2005, it was loaded with the first six experimental fuel assemblies produced by Westinghouse together with Russian fuel for a period of pilot operation. The pilot runs were "deemed unsuccessful, with Energoatom claiming manufacturing defects in the fuel led to a lengthy unscheduled outage at two of the units, while Westinghouse said that errors had been made during fuel loading".^[2]

Nevertheless, in 2008, Energoatom signed a fuel supply contract with Westinghouse to supply 630 nuclear fuel assemblies to its three reactors starting in 2011. Westinghouse shipped a reload batch of 42 fuel assemblies for the 3 units in mid-2009 to last for three years of commercial operation. In June 2010, Energoatom signed a long-term fuel supply contract with Russia's TVEL for its nuclear reactor fleet. Earlier, Rosatom had offered a substantial discount to Ukraine if it signed up with TVEL for 20 years.^{[citation needed]} During trial use of Westinghouse manufactured fuel in 2012, the fuel became deformed and caused serious damage to the reactor.^[3] On 11 April 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea, the fuel contract with Westinghouse was extended through 2020. The fuel will be made at the fuel fabrication facility in Västerås.^[2]

Russian rocket strike on 19 September 2022

According to Ukraine, Russian troops were advancing to the plant in the

Battle of Voznesensk.^[4] On 19 September 2022, the power plant was reportedly hit by Russian artillery. A missile exploded about 300 metres from the reactors, blowing out windows in the buildings and damaging a neighbouring hydroelectric power station. Nuclear reactors were not damaged.^[5]^[6]