The South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant ( uk, Південноукраїнська АЕС), also known as the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant, is a
nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
in Ukraine, near the city of
Yuzhnoukrainsk
Yuzhnoukrainsk (, ) is a city on the Southern Bug river, in Voznesensk Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine, about 350 kilometers (over 200 miles) south of the capital Kyiv. It hosts the administration of Yuzhnoukrainsk urban hromada, one of the hro ...
in
Mykolaiv Oblast
Mykolaiv Oblast ( uk, Микола́ївська о́бласть, translit=Mykoláyivsʹka óblastʹ, ), also referred to as Mykolaivshchyna ( uk, Микола́ївщина, Mykoláivshchyna, ) is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administra ...
, about south of
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
. 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
Tashlyk Pumped-Storage Power Plant ( uk, Ташлицька гідроакумулювальна електростанція) is a pumped-storage power station near Yuzhnoukrainsk in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It connects with Oleksandrivska re ...
and
Oleksandrivska hydroelectric power station.
It has three
VVER
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор; transliterates as ; ''water-water power reactor'') is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally de ...
-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.
The
Vetrino–Isaccea–Yuzhnoukrainsk powerline runs from the plant to
Isaccea
Isaccea (; tr, İshakçı) is a small town in Tulcea County, in Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 4,955.
The town has been inhabite ...
, Romania, but is mostly dismantled or ruined.
According to Ukraine, Russian troops were advancing to the plant in the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, but were repelled in the March 2022
Battle of Voznesensk
The battles of Voznesensk were a series of military engagements between Russia and Ukraine that occurred as part of the southern Ukraine campaign during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in early March 2022.
After capturing the city of Khe ...
.
![Yuzhnoukrainsk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Yuzhnoukrainsk.png)
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.
Fuel supply
The main supplier of fuel for nuclear power plants in Ukraine has been
TVEL :''TVEL ( rus, ТВЭЛ, r=tvel) is also a Russian abbreviation of the "heat-releasing element", fuel rod.''
The TVEL Fuel Company (TVEL) is a Russian nuclear fuel cycle company headquartered in Moscow. It has operated since 1996.
History and op ...
, 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
State Enterprise National Nuclear Energy Generating Company "Energoatom" (SE NNEGC "Energoatom") is a state enterprise operating all four nuclear power plants in Ukraine ( Zaporizhzhia NPP, Rivne NPP, South Ukraine NPP, and Khmelnytskyi NPP). ...
had been using reactor core of unit 3 to test nuclear fuel produced by
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...
in
Västerås
Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049.
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".
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
Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that speciali ...
had offered a substantial discount to Ukraine if it signed up with TVEL for 20 years.
During trial use of Westinghouse manufactured fuel in 2012, the fuel became deformed and caused serious damage to the reactor.
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.
See also
*
Nuclear power in Ukraine
Ukraine operates four nuclear power plants with 15 reactors located in Volhynia and South Ukraine.
The total installed nuclear power capacity is over 13 GWe, ranking 7th in the world in 2020. Energoatom, a Ukrainian state enterprise, operates ...
*
List of power stations in Ukraine
The following page lists power stations in Ukraine.
Nuclear
In service
Historic
Hydroelectric
Thermal
Solar
Wind
* - 200 MWp
* - 500 MWp
* - 67,5 MWp
* - 200 MWp
* - 565 MWp
* - 107,5 MWp
* - 25 MWp
* - 246 MWp
* ...
*
Power generation in Ukraine
References
External links
Archivedofficial website in English.
{{Nuclear power in Ukraine
1983 establishments in Ukraine
Buildings and structures in Mykolaiv Oblast
Energoatom
Energy infrastructure completed in 1983
Energy infrastructure completed in 1985
Energy infrastructure completed in 1989
Nuclear power stations built in the Soviet Union
Nuclear power stations in Ukraine
Nuclear power stations using VVER reactors