Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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The back-story
Khmelnitsky’s first reactor was connected to the grid in 1987, but work on three other reactors was halted in 1990, at a time when unit 3 was about 80% complete and unit 4 about 25%. Work on the second reactor restarted and it was connected to the grid in 2004, but units 3 and 4 remain uncompleted.
The Belene project in northern Bulgaria was for the construction of two 1000 MWe units, using Russian VVER-1000 designs. Preliminary site works began in 2008, and contracts for components including large forgings and I&C systems were signed with suppliers, but the project was stymied by financing problems. Equipment for the nuclear island had been paid for and was manufactured and delivered in 2017 and has since been kept in storage – the then government formally ended plans for the project in 2023.
Since then there have been talks about Ukraine purchasing the unused Belene equipment in what International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi called an “interesting project” with its “efficient” idea of one interrupted construction project integrating technology from a discontinued project. The agency has said that it will help throughout the project to ensure safety standards are assured at all times.
The Bulgarian parliament has already given approval for negotiations about the sale of the equipment to Ukraine, with the minimum aim of recouping the reported EUR600 million (USD622 million) paid for the equipment.
In May last year, at the request of the Bulgarian and Ukrainian governments, a US technical team joined experts from the two countries to conduct a technical assessment of the VVER equipment stored at Belene. Westinghouse has also confirmed it will be able to supply fuel for the completed Khmelnitsky units.
Reaction to the parliamentary vote
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said it was one of the most important decisions ever taken for the Ukrainian energy system: “The completion of the Khmelnitsky NPP is a strategic task for Ukraine. Nuclear energy is the basis of our energy system, and to a large extent it is thanks to it that we have light and heat, despite constant attacks.”
He stressed that Ukraine, which is currently at war with Russia, will not see any Russian involvement in the project – “everything will be implemented by Ukrainian and American companies”. He added that completion of the units will be “many times” faster and cheaper than construction from scratch.
Ukraine’s nuclear power operator Energoatom said, after the vote which saw 269 deputies backing the purchase, that it would “strengthen the country’s energy independence and security, contributing to the further development of nuclear energy and strengthening the national energy system”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called it an important day that would add more than 2 GW of capacity for Ukraine.
“Our completed power units will allow Ukraine to operate without imports, even during the winter months. And it will definitely help us keep electricity prices from rising for the people … in the modern world, industrial growth and development of any economy must be based on the development of energy sources. This is exactly what we are doing,” he said.
Ukraine has 15 reactors, capable of generating half its electricity, at four existing nuclear power plants, including the six-unit Zaporizhzhia plant which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022. The country has plans for at least nine Westinghouse AP1000 units, including two new ones planned at Khmelnitsky and others at the Rivne and South Ukraine plants.
