"I know that an accident has occurred at the Zaporizhye NPP," Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday, asking new energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn to make it clear when the problem would be resolved, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchishin denied Wednesday reports of radiation leakage at Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and said the operation of the electric power unit will restart by Friday.
"There are no problems with the [nuclear] reactor," the minister said answering a question on whether the radiation leakage occurred.
On November 28, Ukrainian national energy company Ukrenergo cut off consumers as an emergency measure due to problems with Zaporizhia NPP and the lack of coal in thermal power plants. On December 2, there were more blackouts.
According to Ukrenergo, the Unified Energy System of Ukraine is undergoing difficulties caused by coal shortages, the destruction of electrical networks and transport infrastructure in the conflict — torn southeast of the country and high emergency risk at the power plants. At the same time, power consumption massively exceeds the limits of the infrastructure.
Gas and energy shortages, due to a reduction in purchases from Russia and a halt in the work of Donbas mines amid the military operation in the southeast of Ukraine, have led to deficit of energy and, as a consequence, electricity.
