This year, Ukraine aims to start construction of four new nuclear reactors to compensate for the lost energy capacity due to the war with Russia. Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said this in a commentary to Reuters , UNN reports.
Details
According to him, the two units, which include reactors and related equipment, will be based on Russian-made equipment that Ukraine wants to import from Bulgaria.
Instead, the other two will use Western technologies from the power equipment manufacturer Westinghouse.
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The Energy Minister explained that all four reactors will be built at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant in western Ukraine.
I think we will start construction in the summer or fall. We need reactor vessels, which will have to be imported. We want to build the third and fourth units at once
He also explained that with the help of the third and fourth rectors, Ukraine wants to compensate for the one at Zaporizhzhia NPP.
We are negotiating with our Bulgarian partners on two reactors that we want to import. If we received the reactor vessels today, I think it would take 2.5 years, and we would have the third reactor in operation
Addendum
Construction of the third and fourth reactors of the Khmelnytsky NPP began in the 1980s but was frozen.
Since gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine has built three new nuclear reactors - one each at Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytsky, and Rivne NPPs.
Currently, three power plants in the government-controlled territory produce more than 55% of the country's electricity needs, but the country wants to expand this sector to compensate for the loss of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which was seized by the Russian occupiers.
Russia gained control of the facility after the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and its six nuclear reactors are now "idle.
Recall
Ukraine is planning to build a new power line from the Dniester PSPP to the Vinnytsia substation.