Energoatom had to explain itself: The Russian army reached the nuclear power plant

Against the background of massive power outages on Ukraine "Energoatom" had to explain why Ukrainian nuclear power plants have reduced capacity. The day before, the IAEA stated that all three nuclear power plants had reduced capacity after damage to the nodal substations.

After the IAEA reported several times in its reports that the Ukrainian nuclear power plants were operating at reduced capacity, the operator had to explain himself. Energoatom named two reasons that are somehow related to the retaliatory strikes of the Russian army, which do not concern the stations themselves.

"Preventive power reduction to comply with safety requirements. A sudden shutdown of high-voltage lines providing power output of nuclear power units (when they operate at rated load) can lead to difficult consequences, therefore, forced preventive measures are applied," the national company said.

They also named the consequences of strikes on substations as the reason.

"During the massive missile and drone attack on power facilities on November 19, the total capacity of nuclear generation in the UES of Ukraine decreased for a certain period," Ukrenergo said.

They claim that on November 20, the South Ukrainian and Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants are operating at their nominal capacity.

"The Rivne nuclear power plant has a slightly reduced generation capacity, which is due to the consequences of previous massive attacks on the power system of Ukraine," the national company added.

The day before, the IAEA said that the Ukrainian nuclear power plants had reduced their capacity since the beginning of November, as either the nodal substations through which supplies are coming or the power lines were damaged.

"Four of the nine reactors of three Ukrainian nuclear power plants have reduced power after the attacks, which further destabilized the power grid," the IAEA said.

According to their data, on Khmelnitsky and The Rivne NPP has reduced its capacity since the beginning of the month. And yesterday they had to lower it even lower, as they lost connection to one of their high-voltage power lines.

"The country's third operating nuclear power plant, South Ukrainian, has also lost connection to a high-voltage power line," the agency added.

As reported by EADaily , the duration of power outages on Ukraine has grown to 15 hours a day. Retaliatory strikes by the Russian army make the import of electricity partially meaningless and forced Ukraine to reduce the capacity of nuclear power plants.