Reactor unit problems

Mega heat in Russia causes power cuts

A man tries to cool off in the middle of hot Moscow. The famous Cathedral of Christ the Savior can be seen in the background.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

Extreme heat is currently giving southern Russia a hard time. The air conditioning systems have driven daily electricity consumption in the world's largest country by area to an all-time high, and a nuclear reactor has also had to be shut down. Electricity consumption now has to be curbed.

Southern Russia and neighboring Ukraine have been struggling for days with the same heat wave as the Balkans and Mediterranean countries. The temperature in the city of Rostov is currently 38 degrees, in Stavropol 34 degrees and in Sevastopol in Crimea 32 degrees. In Ukraine, power outages and shutdowns have been part of everyday life for weeks because the aggressor Russia has destroyed a large part of Ukraine's power plants.

In Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia, power cuts have been imposed for twelve hours a day. This means that there are always two hours of electricity and then two hours without ...

Sunshine in the Russian capital

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

Planned hourly shutdowns are also affecting consumers in the Rostov region, as Governor Vasily Golubev wrote on Telegram. The difficulties were triggered by the automatic shutdown of a reactor block at the Russian nuclear power plant in Rostov on Tuesday afternoon - but it turned out that there was no emergency.

However, the outage meant that around 2.5 million people were temporarily without electricity. Areas from Krasnodar on the Black Sea coast to Dagestan on the Caspian Sea, hundreds of kilometers away, are affected.