Ukraine: the foundation stone of the new American Westinghouse nuclear reactors laid
Ukraine has begun construction of two US-designed reactors at a nuclear power plant in the country's west, following devastating Russian attacks on its energy grid.
On Thursday, workers at the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant poured a symbolic cubic meter of concrete for the reactors, which will use US technology and fuel, while waving Ukrainian and US flags. Here is the area where the reactors will be built.
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The project aims to increase Ukraine's energy security and reduce its dependence on Russian nuclear technology.
Among the guests at the ceremony were the head of Ukraine's state nuclear operator, Energoatom, Petro Kotin; Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko; the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and the CEO of the US nuclear energy company Westinghouse, Patrick Fragman.
Energoatom requested that the launch be announced after the event due to security concerns over Russian attacks.
The ceremony took place just hours after a Russian attack destroyed a power plant outside Kiev. “This is our response to terrorists, this is our response to invaders,” Galushchenko said.
“Today we talk about the future, we talk about stability, we talk about the development of nuclear energy,” he said, describing the plans for Khmelnytskyi as Ukraine's most significant modernization project since World War II.
A sign at the plant reads “The future is with nuclear energy.”
Ukraine gets about half of its energy from nuclear power. All of its current reactors are of Soviet design, but have been switched to US fuel.
The country's largest nuclear plant – Zaporizhzhia, in the south – has been under Russian control since the start of the war.
The Khmelnytskyi power plant already has two functioning reactors. Reactors 3 and 4 are partially built according to a Soviet design and will be completed with material from Bulgarian plants that will not be completed.
New Westinghouse reactors
The inauguration ceremony concerned reactors 5 and 6, not yet built, which will be built with Westinghouse's AP1000 technology. AP 1000 is a third generation pressurized water reactor whose first example entered service in 2018.
The units will each have a capacity of more than 1,100 megawatts and, according to Fragman, will be “the most advanced nuclear reactor operating in the world today.”
AP 1000
With all six reactors in operation, Khmelnytskyi will become the largest plant in Europe, surpassing Zaporizhzhia, Energoatom head Petro Kotin said.
EnergoAtom and Westinghouse have not said exactly when the reactors will come online. Energoatom said building a peacetime reactor takes five years and the estimated cost starts at five billion dollars.
The first unit will have an “accelerated timetable,” because Ukraine has agreed to buy heavy equipment ready to be installed, Fragman said, making the AP1000 almost modular
The US Exim Bank will partly finance the project, but the area is often subject to Russian attacks and this, obviously, could slow down construction
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The article Ukraine: the first stone laid for the new American Westinghouse nuclear reactors comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/ucraina-gettata-la-prima-pietra-dei-nuovi-reattori-nucleari-americani-westinghouse/ on Sun, 14 Apr 2024 06:00:31 +0000.