About $1.5 billion spent on completing KhNPP units – Energy Minister
These funds were used to purchase building structures and equipment for the construction of power units No. 3 and 4 of the Khmelnytskyi NPP, Herman Galushchenko reported
About $1.5 billion has been spent on the construction of power units No. 3 and 4 of the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP).
This was stated by the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Galushchenko on January 17 during the government question hour in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrinform reports.
"Currently, the costs for the construction itself have been calculated at close to $1 billion. Plus, importantly, the site itself contains equipment that was purchased even earlier for the installation of these units. The cost is somewhere around $1.5 billion," the minister explained.
Herman Galushchenko emphasized that the building structures and equipment were purchased earlier. This is, in fact, a legacy from the previous generation of energy workers. Therefore, the minister believes that this is a unique chance, having the equipment, the corresponding structures and receiving two buildings, respectively, which are not enough to launch the reactors, you cannot simply lose such an opportunity.
However, the purchase of equipment for the Kherson NPP in Bulgaria was complicated by the presence of pro-Russian forces in power, the Minister of Energy noted. According to him, the Ukrainian side requested the provision of units, but was refused. Thanks to the visit of President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2023, an agreement was reached, which is valid until March 10-11, 2025. However, now a pro-Russian government is again in power in Bulgaria.
The minister also spoke about the inconsistency of the approved estimate for KhNPP with the current price level.
"Since the feasibility study for the construction was approved in 2018, all the equipment was really calculated at the exchange rate for that year. Therefore, the price in the 2018 feasibility study does not correspond to the current price level today. I hope that this law will be adopted, and we will be able to make changes to the feasibility study and submit a new bill. It is obvious that the old feasibility study will lose relevance in the event of a new addition," said Herman Galushchenko.
He also added that the power units planned to be completed at the Khmelnytskyi NPP will have a unique technology for regulating power within a range of 20% of the installed capacity, which will allow balancing the load in the Ukrainian power system.
"The uniqueness of these units is that they have maneuvering capacity of 20% of their installed capacity. This is a new technology that allows nuclear power to maneuver, which is an atypical solution for the operation of base generation in the world," the Minister of Energy emphasized.
As for the current work at the site, it concerns only maintaining existing structures and equipment in proper condition to prevent their degradation, said Herman Galushchenko.
As reported by "Ukrainian Energy", the Energy Committee of the Verkhovna Rada supported a bill to allow NNEGC Energoatom to purchase equipment from Bulgaria necessary for the construction of units No. 3 and 4 of the Khmelnytskyi NPP.
