Emergency Shut Down Reported At Ukraine's Largest Nuclear Plant

Zaporizhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, is in southeast Ukraine on the banks of the Dnieper River. © Wikicommons

Emergency Shutdown At Ukraine’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant -- RT

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.



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Update #1: Ukraine shuts down faulty nuclear power plant reactor -- AFP

Update #2: Ukrainian Nuclear Plant Shuts Down Reactor For Second Time This Month -- Radio Free Europe



My Comment: After the Chernobyl disaster .... it still boggles my mind that Ukraine has a number of nuclear plants operating. And while these reactors were built using a different design than those at the Chernobyl plant .... I have no confidence that these operations are being conducted with the strictest safety standards in mind. Then again ... take a risk or have no electricity in the middle of winter .... talk about lousy options.



Update #3: All of my relatives in Ukraine have been saying that they have been experiencing rolling blackouts for the past few weeks. This nuclear shutdown is probably going to aggravate the situation further.