Ukraine - World Nuclear Performance Report

All 15 reactors in Ukraine are VVER units. Rovno and Khmelnitski are in the west of the country, and South Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia in the south. 

In February 2022 Russia launched a military offensive against Ukraine. The war has had an impact on energy systems across Ukraine, with all six units at Zaporizhzhia – which is occupied by Russian military forces – having not generated electricity since September 2022. Output from Ukraine’s other reactors has been less affected.

Since January 2023 teams of nuclear safety and security experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been stationed at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and the Chernobyl site. 

All units at Zaporizhzhia have been in cold shutdown since April 2024, following the installation of four diesel steam generators for liquid waste treatment at the site, and the end of the heating season. In  June 2024 IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said there “was an understanding” that the Zaporizhzhia plant’s reactors would not be restarted during the conflict. In October 2023 the State Nuclear Regulatory  Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) established a pre-licensing system based on the approach adopted by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. In November 2023 South Ukraine 1 received a 10-year extension to its  operating licence. The reactor entered commercial operation in 1983.

Nuclear electricity production by age of reactor