KYIV, Dec. 13 (Ukrainian News) – The last working reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scheduled to be officially shut down for good on Dec. 15, will be restarted on Wednesday, a top nuclear regulation official said Tuesday.
“We will issue permission tomorrow (Wednesday). The documents are presently being prepared,” said Oleksandr Smyshliaev, the head of the State Nuclear Regulation Administration.
The reactor was urgently shut down last Wednesday, and energy industry officials held discussions throughout Tuesday on whether it is necessary to restart the reactor two days before its official shutdown.
The SNRA, which controls the Chernobyl power plant, opposed the restart of the station. When the reactor is turned on again, the SNRA said that it will permit it to operate, but only at 5 percent of its capacity, which is the minimal operating capacity of the reactor.
As a result, Chernobyl will not generate electricity, nor will it be connected to the power grid.
Energy industry officials say that the decision to restart the reactor at its minimum capacity was not connected with the forthcoming ceremonial shutdown of the power station, which will be attended by President Leonid Kuchma.
An official at the power station told Ukrainian News that the relevant regulations require certain measurements to be taken before any long-term shutdown of the reactor.
“They would have had to be performed, anyway,” Chornobyl official said.
Chernobyl became the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster after one of the plant’s reactors exploded in April 1986, spreading a radioactive cloud over much of Europe.
