| Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant | |
|---|---|
 View of the plant in 2013. From L to R New Safe Confinement under construction and reactors 4 to 1. | |
 | |
| Official name | SSE Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant |
| Country | Ukraine |
| Location | near Pripyat, Kyiv Oblast |
| Coordinates | 51°23′21″N 30°05′58″E / 51.38917°N 30.09944°E |
| Status | Undergoing Decommissioning |
| Construction began | 15 August 1972 |
| Commission date | 26 September 1977 |
| Decommission date | Process ongoing since 2015 |
| Operator | SAUEZM |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactors | 4 |
| Reactor type | RBMK-1000 |
| Thermal capacity | 12,800 MW |
| Power generation | |
| Units decommissioned | 1 × 800 MW 3 × 1000 MW |
| Nameplate capacity |
|
| External links | |
| Website | chnpp.gov.ua |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant[a] (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, 16.5 kilometers (10 mi) northwest of the city of Chernobyl, 16 kilometers (10 mi) from the Belarus–Ukraine border, and about 100 kilometers (62 mi) north of Kyiv. The plant was cooled by an engineered pond, fed by the Pripyat River about 5 kilometers (3 mi) northwest from its juncture with the Dnieper River.
Originally named for Vladimir Lenin, the plant was commissioned in phases with the four reactors entering commercial operation between 1978 and 1984. In 1986, in what became known as the Chernobyl disaster, reactor No. 4 suffered a catastrophic explosion and meltdown; as a result of this, the power plant is now within a large restricted area known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Both the zone and the power plant are administered by the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management. The three other reactors remained operational post-accident maintaining a capacity factor between 60 and 70%. In total, units 1 and 3 had supplied 98 terawatt-hours of electricity each, with unit 2 slightly less at 75 TWh.[1] In 1991, unit 2 was placed into a permanent shutdown state by the plant's operator due to complications resulting from a turbine fire. This was followed by Unit 1 in 1996 and Unit 3 in 2000. Their closures were largely attributed to foreign pressures. In 2013, the plant's operator announced that units 1–3 were fully defueled, and in 2015 entered the decommissioning phase, during which equipment contaminated during the operational period of the power station will be removed. This process is expected to take until 2065 according to the plant's operator.[2] Although the reactors have all ceased generation, Chernobyl maintains a large workforce as the ongoing decommissioning process requires constant management.[3]
From 24 February to 31 March 2022, Russian troops occupied the plant as part of their invasion of Ukraine.[4][5]
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- ^ "PRIS – Reactor Details".
- ^ "Chernobyl nuclear power plant site to be cleared by 2065". Kyiv Post. 3 January 2010. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012.
- ^ "Ukraine war: Russian troops leave Chernobyl, Ukraine says". 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
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