KYIV, April 21 – The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant has to put reactor Unit 6 in cold shutdown which is expected to be reached by the weekend, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said.

According to a press release of the IAEA issued on Friday, the decision was made due to warmer weather. The two reactors were in hot shutdown during the winter to provide steam and heating to the ZNPP as well as heating to the nearby city of Enerhodar.

In addition, in its press release the IAEA said the scope of maintenance performed during outages on all units in 2022 was reduced compared to the planned scope due to reduced maintenance staff, absence of external contractors who perform a significant part of the work, and a lack of spare parts needed for the maintenance, including critical components.