Ukraine's energy minister says an accident at a nuclear power plant in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhya last week did not involve a nuclear reactor and caused no radiation leakage.
Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn told reporters in Kyiv on December 3 that the accident on November 28 occurred in the energy transfer system of the plant's No. 3 power-generating unit, not a reactor.
"There is no radiation leakage," he said, and nobody was hurt.
Demchyshyn's statement followed reports that Ukraine had introduced rolling blackouts across the country -- including in Crimea, which Russia annexed in March -- due to shortages in the power grid.
Media reports said the shortages were caused in part by the shutdown of the 1,000-megawatt power generating unit at the Zaporizhzhya plant.
Demchyshyn says it is expected to resume operations by December 5.
