Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant seized

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• Recently, Russian forces shelled the buildings & seized the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Powerplant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

• It is located on the banks of the Dnieper river, just 200 kilometers from the conflicted Donbas region where Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting.

• Zaporizhzhya is one of the four operating NPPs in the country and has been operating since 1984.

• It accounts 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 Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) units.

• PWR is a type of light water reactor that uses ordinary water as the moderator and coolant.

• The Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors are fuelled by Natural Uranium while Light Water Reactors (LWRs) are fuelled by Low Enriched Uranium.

Interesting Fact

• In India, some nuclear reactors are kept under “IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards”.

• The nuclear facilities are kept under IAEA safeguards if the source of Uranium, which is the fissile material for a nuclear reactor, is from outside the territory of India or if the new reactor plants are established with foreign collaboration.