Ukraine and the US want to expand Khmelnytskyi NPP

Ukraine and the United States want to expand the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant. They are considering completing the construction of the third and fourth power units.

This was announced by Ivan Hryhoruk, Vice President of Energy Club, during a telethon.

Expansion of Khmelnytskyi NPP

Hryhoruk says that the project involves the transportation of two nuclear reactors from Bulgaria and their adaptation to Ukrainian conditions.

"It's impossible to say which format is currently in place, because the negotiation process is still underway. But I am sure that even the three formats you have listed are possible, including technological, financing, and support in the implementation process, including engineering support," he said.

The Energy Club vice president says Ukraine has extensive experience in converting Soviet reactors to American fuel.

"Today, Ukraine has quite a lot of experience in converting its VVER-1000 nuclear reactors to Westinghouse fuel. In fact, we have been successfully using this technology for many years at various plants to adapt Soviet nuclear reactors to run on Westinghouse fuel", said Hryhoruk.

Терміни та вартість проєкту

The expert noted that the timing depends on the implementation of the design and estimate documentation, relevant design and research work at the facilities themselves.

"But it was actually stated that X-3 is about three years and X-4 is 4.5-5 years, which is quite optimistic," he emphasized.

According to him, the estimated cost of the project is about $2 billion. Hryhoruk believes that part of the funding will come from foreign partners.

As a reminder, energy expert Yurii Korolchuk said that if Russia launches missile strikes on the distribution capacities of Ukrainian NPPs, the situation with power outages this winter will be significantly complicated.

Earlier, a Russian attack drone flew critically close to one of the power units at Khmelnytskyi NPP.