Kiev: In retaliation for Russia seizing control of the nation’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s energy ministry announced on Monday that work on four new nuclear reactors will start this year.
In remarks that were broadcast on television, German Galushchenko, the minister of energy, stated that the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in western Ukraine would eventually house all four new reactors, making it the biggest in Europe.
Since March 2022, Russia has controlled Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is currently the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. All six of the plant’s reactors have shut down.
Fierce fighting in the area and power cuts have raised international concerns since the plant still needs electricity and water to cool its systems.
The Khmelnytskyi plant will receive two reactors built to a US design, the minister said.
The plant, which dates back to the 1980s, currently has two reactors. Two others have long been planned but their construction delayed.
“With the power that six reactors at Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant will be able to produce, it will be the largest in Europe and even more powerful than Zaporizhzhia,” Galushchenko said.
He said that the construction would take many years, with the third reactor expected to be ready in around two and a half years, followed by the others.
The Khmelnytskyi plant’s construction began in 1981 and it went into operation the year after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
A moratorium on new nuclear projects caused the construction of reactors three and four to stop, despite the original plan to build four reactors.
Later, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to build the reactors, but that agreement was canceled in 2015.
The US company Westinghouse is expected to design two new AP1000 reactors for the station. Reactors three and four, which were previously planned, will be Soviet VVER-1000 designs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that Khmelnytskyi power plant has experienced power outages and windows smashed by nearby explosions since Russia’s invasion.
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