The operating power of the plant will be gradually increased in the coming days to its full capacity in line with the standard procedure.

During the month and a half long outage following the 26th fuel cycle, the plant underwent maintenance work and technological upgrade that the NEK said provided a good basis for the plant's continued safe and stable operation.

The operation featured a series of preventive maintenance works designed to increase the safety and stability of operation and 30 modifications to upgrade nuclear safety and further reduce risks.

After damage had been detected to fuel rods, NEK also implemented a series of preventive measures to stabilise fuel to increase its resistance to vibration caused by circulation of coolant.

NEK said that the most technologically-advanced methods and tested solutions had been applied in the process.

Fuel elements had been checked by means of in-mast-sipping method, ultra-sound method as well by means of underwater cameras. All fuel elements that indicated any suspicion of leaking have been removed.

Four elements that are located on exposed spots where damage occurred due to transverse flow were reinforced through the building in of steel rods on the side of the fuel elements.

The NEK management also assured the public that it supplemented the action plan of measures to monitor the state of the fuel in the reactor core during operation.

It said that all possible measures had been implemented to ensure similar damage to fuel rods would not happen during the 27th fuel cycle that started today.

All the maintenance activities and solutions applied to upgrade nuclear safety had been closely monitored and approved by authorised organisations, including the Nuclear Safety Administration.