Ukraine to build 4 new nuclear reactors

Ukraine will commence construction of 4 new nuclear reactors this summer or fall to compensate for the loss of energy capacities due to the war with Russia, announced Minister of Energy German Galushchenko in an interview with Reuters.

Four new nuclear reactors will be built at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant. “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,” journalists write. 

All four reactors are slated for simultaneous construction. “I think (we’ll start construction) in summer-autumn,” Galushchenko said in an interview. “We need vessels,” he added, referring to the reactor pressure vessels that will have to be imported. We want to do the third and fourth units right away.”

The construction of the third and fourth energy blocks at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant began in the 1980s but was halted. After Ukraine gained independence, three new nuclear reactors were built at the Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, and Rivne NPPs. Currently, these three nuclear power plants, located in Ukraine’s controlled territory, generate over 55% of the electricity. Significant losses occurred after Russia occupied the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

“With the 3rd and 4th (Khmelnytkyi units) we want to compensate for Zaporizhzhia, and now we are in the talks with our Bulgarian partners on the two reactors we want to take. If we received the reactor vessels today, I think it would be 2.5 years and we would have a third reactor on line,” Galushchenko said.