The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRC) has approved a 10-year extension to the operating licence of unit 5 at the Zaporozhe nuclear power plant. The VVER-1000/V-320 reactor was commissioned in August 1989 and its original 30-year licence expired on 27 May 2020. The new licence extends the operation of unit 5 as well as of the facilities technologically related to it.

The document was signed by Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Security of Ukraine and the head of SNRC Grigory Plachkov in the presence of Energoatom President Peter Kotin, SNRC Deputy Chief State Inspector Boris Stolyarchuk and Zaporozhe NPP Chief Engineer Igor Murashov.

"The regulator has recognised the reasonable possibility of the safe operation of unit 5 for the next 10 years, setting the date for the next periodic re-evaluation of the safety of the unit for 27 May 2030," Energoatom said yesterday.

The decision to extend the licence of the unit was taken at a meeting of the SNRC Board and was based on the results of a periodic reassessment of the safety of unit 5, which SNRC conducted on 9-13 November 2020.

Energoatom operates four nuclear power plants in Ukraine - Khmelnitsky, Rovno, South-Ukraine and Zaporozhe - with a combined installed capacity of 13,168 MWe. On 11 December, SNRC approved a 10-year licence extension for the unit 1 of the Rovno plant to 22 December 2030, the second such extension approved for that unit.