Completion of Kherson NPP: why is there a scandal surrounding nuclear gener
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced that the Verkhovna Rada has withdrawn the bill on the construction of power units of the Khmelnytskyi NPP from consideration.
“There are no votes. Although they are still very actively working to find votes… I haven’t seen this in the Rada for a long time. Big money is at stake,” he said.
The MP also accused corrupt officials from Energoatom of this and advised them to “change the list of “speaking” heads to promote this scheme.
“Ukrainian Energy” found out what is happening with the completion of two power units of the Khmelnytskyi NPP.
A NPP unit in three years
The Khmelnytskyi NPP is located in the Khmelnytskyi region in the city of Netishyn. Its construction began in 1981. The power plant operates two nuclear reactors, which were connected in 1987 and 2004. Their total capacity is 2000 MW.
According to the project, the plant was to have four units. "At present, the NPP site remains the most promising facility for the expansion of Ukrainian nuclear power. The most promising Ukrainian NPP in terms of realizing Ukraine's export potential on the European energy market," Energoatom noted.
On April 2, 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft law of Ukraine "On the Location, Design and Construction of Power Units No. 3 and No. 4 of the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant" developed by the Ministry of Energy.
The third power unit was 75% ready, the fourth - 28%. The government reported that the construction of two nuclear power units will increase electricity production by 16,226 million kWh/year, and the release - by 15,415 million kWh/year. In general, the completion of the units that are 25-75% ready will give the country 2.2 GW of additional capacity.
In July, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services approved the bill.
And there were no votes in the Rada. Although, the Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko claims that the third unit of the Khmelnytskyi NPP will be built approximately in three years.
“We will build the third unit of the Khmelnytskyi NPP quite quickly - it will be online in three years. From the point of view of the construction of a nuclear unit, this is very fast. A large construction part is almost ready there, plus we have a large number of spare parts already on the site. We understand how to do it,” Galushchenko noted.
Russian equipment and corruption
“There have been no UAV deliveries from the state at the front for a month. There are complaints from military families about payments. Schools are working in the dark without generators, hospitals are looking for sponsors to fill the generators with diesel. At this time, the government is dragging the first question of the last plenary week of the year with a corrupt bill on the construction of the Khmelnytskyi NPP, where they want to purchase billions of hryvnias worth of Russian equipment. And this is in the context of the destroyed Ukrainian energy sector, when the survival of communities depends on the diversification of energy capacities. It is simply shameful! We are categorically against it and will disrupt this issue!”, - this is how the deputies from “European Solidarity” explained their position.
“There are no fools among the authors of the bill. Everyone understands perfectly well that there will be no completion in the three years declared there. There will be no completion in five. If even one unit is completed by 2030 - which will require a complete change in the process, it will lead to the Hero of Ukraine (no exaggeration).
To write that the declared budget will not be invested would be untrue. There is no budget.By the way, the Energoatom project (and Bankova, who is pushing it) legally guarantees Moscow that at least in the next four heating seasons 2024/2025…2027/2028, the money from the increase in tariffs for the population that went to Energoatom (and this is tens of billions of hryvnias) will not be used to provide the country's energy supply. But for this, you can already give a hero of Russia," - this is how columnist Igor Maskalevech explained the situation on social networks.
Critics of the completion of the KhNPP power units draw attention to the fact that they want to use Russian reactors during the completion. We are talking about the purchase of two old Russian reactor units of the VVER-1000 type, which were planned to be installed at the Bulgarian Belene NPP. Also, in the summer, the anti-corruption department of the Verkhovna Rada identified corruption risks in the draft law.
The European Union is against
The EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Maternova, noted that the European Union will not sponsor this project – because the EU structures were not involved in the preparation of this legislative initiative.
“We did not participate in the preparation of this bill. But this decision is entirely within the competence of the Ukrainian authorities – whether Ukraine will build a nuclear power plant or not,” she said.
“The European Union does not finance the construction of nuclear power plants, in particular because the EU has different positions on nuclear energy,” Maternova added.
At the same time, the diplomat emphasized that the EU, on the other hand, has different expectations from the Ukrainian authorities in the context of the activities of NNEGC Energoatom.
The opinions of experts also do not add optimism.
The Director of the Center for Energy Research, Oleksandr Kharchenko, believes that financing the completion of the KhNPP power units is a huge waste of resources.
He noted that the government has not yet approved even the feasibility study for the construction of new nuclear units.
Former advisor to the Minister of Energy Lana Zerkal says that the construction of nuclear power units by Energoatom will require decades and funds that are not in the Ukrainian budget.
The Renaissance of Nuclear Energy
It is no secret that the world is currently experiencing a renaissance of nuclear energy as one of the vectors of decarbonization.
Yuriy Sapozhnikov, Chairman of the Board of JSC "Kyiv Scientific Research and Design Institute "Energoproekt", explains that in this context, the completion of the Kherson NPP is not only economically feasible, but also critically important for the energy independence of Ukraine.
After all, we are talking about an asset that already has an estimated value of over a billion dollars. To refuse the completion is literally to waste this resource.
In addition to economic benefits, the completion of the two power units will create thousands of jobs and will be a powerful impetus for the development of the construction industry and related industries. At the peak stages of construction, it is planned to attract up to three thousand workers. In the long term, these facilities will ensure a stable energy supply and significantly reduce Ukraine's dependence on energy imports.
Sapozhnikov also emphasized that it is not worth waiting for the end of the war to begin work.
"Legislative, design and expert procedures can be started now, so that after the end of hostilities, we can move on to active phase of construction. This is a strategic step that will ensure Ukraine's energy security and economic stability," he concluded.
However, the state has decided in a rather original way to complete the construction of the KhNPP power units and has already started putting pressure on the only independent designer - Joint Stock Company "Kyiv Research and Design Institute "Energoproekt", which is headed by Yuriy Sapozhnikov. This is probably being done in order to overstate the construction cost in the future.
Initially, the Ministry of Energy management tried to illegally seize the unique archival documentation of the Institute over its 90 years of existence, which would have made it impossible to carry out design work, in particular, on the orders of JSC "NAEK "Energoatom".
And already in April of this year, there was a deliberate blocking of the booking of 50% of employees of draft age, although KIEP is the last strategically important institution that has retained up to 350 highly qualified design engineers.
"The simultaneous delivery of 52 summonses to employees of one institution by officials of the Ministry of Energy looks nothing other than an attempt to openly pressure the Institute using the powers of authority," - emphasized Yuriy Sapozhnikov.
In addition, a deliberate suspension of payments for work performed by the Institute (through JSC "NAEK "Energoatom") in the amount of UAH 26 million was organized.
"In a difficult period for our state, blocking the work or liquidation of such a unique institution as KIEP will have large-scale and tragic consequences. At a minimum, all engineering work related to repairs at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and the creation of distributed protected electricity generation will be stopped. At a maximum, new nuclear power units will not be completed, as a result of which the country's energy sector will not receive new additional capacities. In this case, we will have to forget about the new gigawatt of generation by the end of 2024, announced by the President of Ukraine," Yuriy Sapozhnikov stated.
KIEP is defined as a critically important enterprise of the fuel and energy complex for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the livelihoods of the population.
People's Deputy Oleksiy Kucherenko stated that he supports the completion of the construction of the 3rd and 4th units of the Khmelnytskyi NPP.
He noted that although the completion of the units will not solve the problem of urgent power outages in the short term, it is a critically important step for the future of the energy sector of Ukraine. The People's Deputy also emphasized the importance of transparent financing and effective project management.
"However, there are a number of factors that are worth paying attention to. The first is that Energoatom should be guided by the government of Ukraine without any supervisory boards. So that the government, as a beneficiary, demands a report and controls these works. The second factor is that it is necessary to make sure that the completion of the Khmelnytskyi NPP does not fall into tariff and it will not be paid by ordinary consumers. And thirdly, we must be convinced that we will be able to ensure the independent operation of the Soviet reactor without an aggressor country,” Kucherenko explained.
So, it seems that the struggle for nuclear generation in Ukraine is gaining momentum. Only the country has a capacity deficit, the population lives with schedules and the same conditions have a chance of being preserved even after the victory. Nuclear generation would be very appropriate, even in 10-20 years. However, Ukraine is not ready to put up with corruption schemes.
Olena Marchenko, specially for “Ukrainian Energy”
