The design life of unit 5 at Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant has been extended by 10 years, nuclear utility Energoatom reported.

The event was marked by celebrations attended by Energoatom acting President Peter Kotin and the mayor of plant operator town Energodar Dmitry Orlov.

Zaporozhye 5 received a licence from the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) on 5 January and the unit was reconnected to the grid on 15 January.

“The launch of the unit 5 of the Zaporozhye NPP was difficult,” said Kotin at the ceremony on 29 January. “There were objective reasons and, unfortunately, resistance from opponents. There was also the coronavirus. But we were able to overcome all obstacles and complete all the necessary measures.”

He explained that debts owed to the company and the resulting lack of funds disrupted the procurement of equipment. In addition, due to quarantine, everything was delayed — both the execution of work and the adoption of appropriate decisions by the regulatory authorities.

Acting Plant Director General Yuriy Kulba noted that there would be a break before similar life extension work begins at Zaporozhye 6 “which we should take advantage of in order to analyse the bottlenecks that arose during our work, so that the sixth unit at the Zaporozhye NPP will be an exemplary one.”