Energoatom denies accident at South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant but says 'issues' found

Ukraine's state nuclear energy agency Energoatom on Sept. 4 denied reports of an accident at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in Mykolaiv Oblast, but said "issues" had been discovered at one of its power units.

In a post on Telegram, Energoatom added that the operating capacity of the unit in question had been reduced, and the issue was caused by Russian attacks on the wider energy infrastructure network which caused "significant fluctuations in the parameters of the network."

The denial came after Oleksandr Kharchenko, the managing director of the Energy Industry Research Center, said in a post on Facebook there had been an accident at the plant, citing "two independent sources."

Energoatom said the denial was made in order to "stop the spread of yet more unreliable information."

This is not the first time the plant has been at the center of conflicting reports.

An incident damaged energy equipment earlier this year, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on July 25, citing a response to an official request for information he had sent to the authorities after Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko denied earlier reports.

Reports emerged on July 18 that two transformers had burned down days earlier, leading to one of the reactors being disconnected from the energy network.

Ukraine relies on nuclear power for more than half of its energy production, which is increasingly in demand amid Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The country is preparing to resume the construction of the previously abandoned Chyhyryn plant in Cherkasy Oblast, Energoatom said on Aug. 27.

"The Energoatom team is actively working to find new construction sites. The most promising of them is Chyhyryn, near the town of Orbita in Cherkasy Oblast," said Energoatom.

According to Energoatom, the plant will be equipped with AP1000 reactors built by U.S. company Westinghouse.

The members of the Chyhyryn City Council voted to grant Energoatom permission to resume construction of the plant. "The first steps have been taken," said Energoatom.

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The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta