IAEA confirms shutdown of reactor at South Ukraine NPP
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the shutdown of the power unit at the South Ukrainian NPP due to problems with the transformer, reads the website of the IAEA.
"Last week, the IAEA team at the South Ukraine NPP reported that its unit 2 was temporarily shut down following the actuation of electrical protections due to a transformer problem in the 330 kV open switchyard, located outside the NPP site," the agency said in a statement.
As a result of a short circuit, the ceramic insulator was damaged, which led to the leakage of oil, which ignited from an electric arc.
After the electrical connection was restored, the reactor was restarted and started supplying electricity to the grid about 17 hours later, reaching full power a little more than 24 hours after the shutdown, the IAEA added.
On July 18, the director of the Energy Industry Research Center Oleksandr Kharchenko reported that three transformers burned down at the South Ukraine NPP within three days, which led to the disconnection of one of the reactors from the grid. This, according to him, was the reason for strict restrictions on electricity supply.
The next day, Minister of Energy German Halushchenko stated during question time to the government in the Verkhovna Rada that "at first this information appeared on Russian channels" and called it a fake.
However, on July 25, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak published the response of Ukrenergo to his parliamentary request, in which it is confirmed that on July 15, an emergency disconnection from the network of one of the power units did indeed occur at the South Ukraine NPP. As a result, the capacity deficit in the unified energy system of Ukraine had significantly increased.
After that, the Ministry of Energy asked the National Security and Defense Council and the Security Service of Ukraine to "take urgent measures to bring to justice" those spreading rumors about the accident at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant.
On July 25, a new director was appointed at the South Ukraine NPP. Energoatom did not explain whether this was related to the events of July 15.