Since 1992, it has been guarded by the
4th NPP Protection Battalion. The main supplier of fuel for nuclear power plants in Ukraine has been
TVEL, with whom NNEGC signed a contract for the supply of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian
WMR in 1997 until 2010. Under a US-Ukrainian initiative to reduce Ukraine's dependency on Russia for fuel, tied to the dismantling of its nuclear weapon arsenal,
Energoatom had been using reactor core of unit 3 to test nuclear fuel produced by
Westinghouse Electric Company in
Västerås in Sweden, mixed with Russian assemblies. In August 2005, it was loaded with the first six experimental fuel assemblies produced by Westinghouse together with Russian fuel for a period of pilot operation. The pilot runs were "deemed unsuccessful, with Energoatom claiming manufacturing defects in the fuel led to a lengthy unscheduled outage at two of the units, while Westinghouse said that errors had been made during fuel loading". Nevertheless, in 2008, Energoatom signed a fuel supply contract with Westinghouse to supply 630 nuclear fuel assemblies to its three reactors starting in 2011. Westinghouse shipped a reload batch of 42 fuel assemblies for the 3 units in mid-2009 to last for three years of commercial operation. In June 2010, Energoatom signed a long-term fuel supply contract with Russia's TVEL for its nuclear reactor fleet. Earlier,
Rosatom had offered a substantial discount to Ukraine if it signed up with TVEL for 20 years. During trial use of Westinghouse manufactured fuel in 2012, the fuel became deformed and caused serious damage to the reactor. On 11 April 2014, after the
Russian annexation of Crimea, the fuel contract with Westinghouse was extended through 2020. The fuel will be made at the fuel fabrication facility in Västerås. On 19 September 2022, the power plant was reportedly hit by Russian artillery. A missile exploded about 300 metres from the reactors, blowing out windows in the buildings and damaging a neighbouring hydroelectric power station. Nuclear reactors were not damaged. On May 8, 2024, preparatory work began at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant for the construction of two new power units, No. 4 and No. 5, using the American AP1000 technology by Westinghouse. On 4 September 2024, the Director of the Center for Energy Research, Oleksandr Kharchenko, reported that one of the 600 MW power units had reduced output and would soon be under repair.
Energoatom stated that the remark would be removed after
Ukrenergo NPC specialists restored the damaged lines and ensured a stable electricity supply. The company also emphasized that the event was not related to the repair campaign, but was provoked by Russian shelling of the infrastructure. On 25 September 2025, the IAEA monitoring team reported the downing and explosion of a drone approximately 800m from the perimeter of the power plant. It was noted that 22 drones were observed near the NPP late in the evening of September 24 and in the morning of September 25, some of which were as close as 500m from the plant. The report also noted that during the inspection also found a crater caused by damaged drones with an area of 4 m2 and a depth of about 1 m. The explosions also damaged a regional 150 kV power line not connected to the plant. ==Impact on Chernobyl disaster ==