Unit 3 Of Ukraine's Rivne Nuclear Power Plant Turns Off, Causes Unknown

The power unit No. 3 of the Rivne nuclear power plant (NPP) in northwestern Ukraine got disconnected from the power grid on Saturday, state company Energoatom said, adding that causes behind the incident were yet to be established.

"On February 1, 2020, at 2:24 a.m. [00:24 GMT], unit No. 3 of the Rivne NPP got disconnected from the power grid. The reactor facility is operating at 35 percent of its rated capacity. The causes of the shutdown are being investigated," the company's website said.

Power units No. 2 and 4 with a total load of 1,417 megawatts continue operating. Scheduled preventive maintenance is currently underway at unit No. 1.

"There were no violations of the limits and conditions of safe operation. The radiation, fire and environmental conditions at the industrial site and the nearby territory of the Rivne NPP are within the norms and have not changed," the Ukrainian company added.

The Rivne NPP is located in the northwest of the Rivne region. The plant has four power units with a total capacity of 2,835 megawatts.

Earlier in January, a disconnection from the power grid occurred at another Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Power unit number three of the Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP in the Nikolaev region stopped working due to automatic protection operation.