The government makes a decision to build two AP1000 power units at Khmelnytskyi NPP
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the development by NNEGC “Energoatom” of the feasibility study for the construction of new AP1000 units at the Khmelnytskyi NPP using Westinghouse technology.
As Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, reported in the Telegram channel, the decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
“In order to create conditions for the construction of new power units of the Khmelnytskyi NPP, based on the provisions of the U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership, signed on 10 November 2021, the proposal of the Ministry of Energy to develop a feasibility study for the construction of a nuclear plant using the technical characteristics of an AP1000 type reactor plant was agreed”, he wrote.
Melnychuk clarified that the customer of the construction of new power units at the Khmelnytskyi NPP is State Enterprise “National Atomic Energy Generating Company “Energoatom”.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko later confirmed during a briefing that the Cabinet of Ministers had decided to start construction of two AP1000 power units at the site of the Khmelnytskyi NPP.
“We hereby finally renounce Russian nuclear technologies in our nuclear power industry,” the minister emphasized.
The source of financing will be the funds of NNEGC “Energoatom” as well as credit facilities which the US company will receive.
Halushchenko confirmed the previously announced amount of construction of one such power unit making USD 5 billion and noted that both units would be built in parallel, as it is economically more profitable. Construction may be completed approximately in 2032.
The Minister emphasized the possibility of autonomous energy supply to AP1000 within 72 hours in case of loss of external energy sources. He added that Ukrainian nuclear power plants already experienced a complete disconnection from the power system due to shelling, and only generators could provide power supply.
As reported by Ukrainian Energy, Westinghouse Electric Company and NNEGC “Energoatom” signed a contract in mid-July last year for the development of an updated feasibility study for the construction of two AP1000 units at the Khmelnytskyi NPP in Ukraine.
Under the contract, Westinghouse will provide technical information on AP1000 units in support of Energoatom’s updated feasibility study for the construction of two AP1000 reactors at Khmelnytskyi NPP.
The document also kickstarts the licensing process and further development of Ukraine’s initiatives in the field of ecologically clean energy.
In September 2021, Energoatom and Westinghouse signed a memorandum on the construction of five nuclear power plant units in Ukraine. In early June 2022, the companies signed agreements to increase the number of nuclear power units to be built using AP1000 technology in Ukraine, from five to nine units, and to create a Westinghouse engineering and technical center in the country.
Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants of Ukraine. It operates the Zaporizhzhia, South Ukraine, Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants with 15 power units fitted out with water-water energetic reactors with a total installed power capacity of 13.8 GW.
