Ag. Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Eduard Stavitsky and the head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko discussed the project of Khmelnitsky NPP construction upon Russian technologies. Parties are not speaking yet about funding the project, since Rosatom is waiting for official permission from Ukrainian authorities and coordination of the construction safety systems for the project with the IAEA. Mr. Stavitsky informed Mr. Kiriyenko that “competent state authorities of Ukraine finished the process of choosing a design project based on Russian technologies for further construction of units 3 and 4 and an official notice about this will be sent to Moscow shortly”. The parties also confirmed their interest in doing construction of a nuclear fuel plant which will produce Russian-type NF for Ukrainian NPPs together at the Ukrainian territory.
Clear off
The construction of two units of the Khmelnitsky NPP was frozen in 1990 after Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine announced moratorium for construction of new NPPs on the country’s territory. Today their readiness is 75% and 28% respectively.
In October 2008 Russian Atomstroyexport won an international tender, having offered to use VVER-1000/B-392 for further construction of units 3 and 4, an agreement upon which was signed between Russia and Ukraine on June 9, 2010. According to the document the Russian party is to provide project funding for the reactors’ design, construction and putting into operation, including paying for goods and services delivered from Russia to Ukraine.
For realization of the first stage of the units’ further construction, which suggests ordering options for long-cycle production of assemblies and joints, Kiev is looking forward to obtain a credit from Russian Sberbank. At the Moscow meeting the head of Ukrainian Ministry of Coal Industry thanked Russian party for its well-timed completion of project obligation and said that Ukrainian budget this year has a relevant point for investing money into the joint venture fund.
From preparation to construction
The parties also agreed to check additional options for financing another big Russian-Ukrainian project – nuclear fuel plant in Smolino (Kirovgrad region). The enterprise capacity will be 400 tons of uranium a year, or 800 TVS-A fuel assemblies, which exceeds Ukrainian demand and can then be exported to other countries. The plant will be put into operation in three phases, the first one planned for 2015. The total localization of the project is planned to be finished by 2020, with putting into operation of the third phase. The total planned cost of the construction is $295,7 million.
