Ukrainian nuclear power plants in Kyiv-controlled territories will be at full capacity to supply electricity by winter, Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom assured, quoted by AFP and Agerpres on Tuesday.

“We will enter the winter with nine reactors at full capacity,” said Petro Kotin, president of Energoatom NAEC, stating that four reactors currently under repair, with a total capacity of almost 7,600 megawatts, will be operational by November.

Ukraine has three nuclear power plants with nine reactors on its controlled territory. The fourth and largest in Europe, Zaporozhye, equipped with six reactors, has been occupied by Russian troops since March 2022.

The Zaporizhzhia station “means 6,000 megawatts (…) and therefore it is very important to restore control and there will be no problems” with the supply of electricity to Ukraine, the Ukrainian official added.

He also said that the nuclear plants under the control of Ukraine “were not the direct targets” of the Russian bombings, noting that he was not surprised by the statements of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafale Grossi, according to which the specialists of the agency did not find explosives on the roof of the plant in Zaporizhzhia.

In early July, Ukraine accused Moscow of preparing a “provocation”, and the military said that “objects similar to explosive devices” were placed on the roofs of reactors 3 and 4.

Kotin explained that the IAEA experts “had very limited access, on the roof of two blocks (out of six).”

Read also:

• IAEA: There are no explosives on the roofs of the Zaporizhzhia NPP / Russians did not allow up to 4 reactors
• The mission at the Zaporizhzhya NPP was interrupted due to the discovery of anti-personnel mines

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