Ukraine plans to begin construction of four new nuclear reactors in the summer or autumn of 2024, two of which will be based on Russian-made parts. The construction is necessary to compensate for the lost energy capacity due to the war. Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said in an interview with Reuters.
Galushchenko said that two units, including reactors and related equipment, will be based on Russian-made equipment that Ukraine wants to import from Bulgaria, while the other two will use Western technology from energy equipment manufacturer Westinghouse.
According to him, all four reactors will be built at the Khmelnytskyi NPP in western Ukraine.
"I think we will start construction in the summer-autumn. We need reactor vessels, which will have to be imported. We want to build the third and fourth units at once," the minister said.
He also recalled that construction of the third and fourth reactors at Khmelnytskyi NPP began in the 1980s but was frozen.
Galushchenko said that to compensate for energy losses, Ukraine is also considering negotiations with Bulgarian partners to import two reactors. He believes that if the reactor vessels are received today, the commissioning of the third reactor will take about 2.5 years.
