Context

Russian troops seized the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe (Ukraine’s Zaphorizhzhia nuclear power plant).

About

About Ukraine’s Nuclear Power Plants:

• Ukraine is heavily dependent on nuclear energy.
• In 2020, the 4 plants generated 13,107 GWe power, the third largest in Europe after Russia and France.
• Ukraine operates 15 nuclear reactors that generate around 54 per cent of the country's electricity needs.
• Ukraine has four nuclear plants, and all 15 “water-water energy reactors”, or VVER, are located in these plants.
• VVERs are water cooled and water moderated. 
• As many as 12 of the reactors were developed in the 1980s, while one came up in 1995 and the last two in 2004.
• The four plants are the:
  • Rivne plant in northwest Ukraine near the Belarus border
  • Khmelnytskyi plant located around 180 km (110 miles) southeast of the Rivne site
  • South Ukraine plant near Odessa
  • Zaporizhzhia plant
    

About Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant:

• The 6GW Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, located in Energodar, Ukraine, is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe.
• Zaporizhzhya is one of the four operating NPPs in the country and generates up to 42 billion kWh of electricity, accounting for about 40% of the total electricity generated by all the Ukrainian NPPs and one-fifth of Ukraine’s annual electricity production.
• The Zaporizhzhya NPP consists of six pressurised water reactor (PWR) units commissioned between 1984 and 1995, with a gross electrical capacity of 1,000MW each.
• The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power facility is situated on a 104.7ha site on the banks of the Kakhovka reservoir.
• The Steppe zone of Ukraine was selected because of available infrastructure at the nearby Zaporozhe Thermal Power Plant, land unsuitable for agriculture and its distance from foreign territories.