Ukraine to start building 4 new nuclear reactors this year - minister
Ukraine to start building 4 new nuclear reactors this year - minister
Ukraine expects to start construction work on four new nuclear power reactors this summer or autumn, Energy Minister German Galushchenko told Reuters on Thursday, as the country seeks to compensate for lost energy capacity due to the war with Russia. Two of the units - which include reactors and re...
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine expects to start construction work on four new nuclear power reactors this summer or autumn, Energy Minister German Galushchenko told Reuters on Thursday, as the country seeks to compensate for lost energy capacity due to the war with Russia.
Two of the units - which include reactors and related equipment - will be based on Russian-made equipment that Ukraine wants to import from Bulgaria, while the other two will use Western technology from power equipment maker Westinghouse.
All four reactors will be built at the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in the west of Ukraine, Galushchenko added.
I bet they still construct it much faster than the constantly delayed Hinkley Point C in the UK
Interestingly this has been in the works for almost a decade. Lots of good information here
Some good bits:
- Ukraine is heavily dependent on nuclear energy – it has 15 reactors generating about half of its electricity.
- Ukraine had been receiving most of its nuclear services and nuclear fuel from Russia, but is reducing this dependence. In June 2022 an agreement was signed with Westinghouse that will see the company provide all fuel for the Ukrainian fleet.
- In 2021 Westinghouse was contracted to finish building a new reactor at Khmelnitsky using AP1000 components from an aborted US project.
- The government is looking to the West for both technology and investment in its nuclear plants. An agreement to build nine AP1000 reactors at established sites has been signed with Westinghouse.
Seeing as 6 of Ukraine's largest reactors are under Russian control in Zaporozhye, and that a good chunk of Ukraine's national revenue comes from the export of electricity to Europe, the need to get more capacity online is apparent.
More energy is good!