On December 7 the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved in London a $215 million Ukrainian nuclear project to finish the construction of two units at the Rivne and Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). However, this decision will come into force only if four EBRD conditions are fulfilled: Ukraine must officially confirm that all Chornobyl NPP units have been finally shut down, the IMF Board of Governors must decide to resume EFF funding of Ukraine, the parties to the project must confirm in writing their readiness to meet their financial commitments, and Ukraine must confirm in writing to the EBRD that it is meeting and will toughen nuclear safety standards.
As Yuri Poluneyev, EBRD regional director, told Interfax- Ukraine, it will be very difficult to execute this project because “the region has seen nothing of the sort.” The total cost of the project to finish the two power units is an estimated $1.4806 billion, out of which Euroatom accounts for $585 million, export and lending agencies for $348 million, the EBRD $215 million, Russia $123.7 million, Enerhoatom $158 million, and the government of Ukraine $50 million. The EBRD is granting a 18.5-year loan.
The EBRD decision to fund the completion of two Ukrainian nuclear units is undoubtedly important for Ukraine in view of the Chornobyl NPP closure scheduled for December 15. However, this decision will only show practical results in distant future because there is a time gap between the decommissioning of the CNPP and the commissioning of Rivne’s No. 2 and Khmelnytsky’s No. 2 reactors. This naturally gives rise to a question: what will compensate for the loss of the CNPP units in this difficult period?
The problem of Ukraine’s dwindling energy potential has not arise today, and it should have been solved adequately and in time. Meanwhile, the government has promoted the untrammeled growth of electricity output. Any effective program of power supply has sunk into oblivion. And again we were left standing halfway: it is a long way to Rivne-4 and Khmelnytsky-2, while saying farewell to the Chornobyl NPP is just around the corner. What kind of energy resources will this leave Ukraine with? “The problem of the CNPP is not only in that we are shutting it down to please the West. The problem is that we have not accumulated the funds to decommission the station in a civilized and safe way. We’ve done nothing to set up the replacement units. This is what differentiates professionals from nonprofessionals,” Volodymyr Bronnykov, president of the Ukrainian Nuclear Society (UNS), concludes.
Meanwhile, winter has already set in. It is so far rather mild but still unpredictable, as was vividly demonstrated in late November, and Ukraine’s energy system proved unprepared for it and is teetering on the brink of complete collapse. Nobody can guarantee that the wires will not get iced over tomorrow in some oblast or other, again plunging this country’s energy system into crisis.
In addition, the safety of nuclear stations also inspires serious fears. According to Mr. Bronnykov, they should be provided with diesel fuel and supplies in order to be able to function in a self-contained mode for at least two weeks. They do not have these now. “We don’t have any safety margin, neither for natural disasters nor for self-contained survivability. If an accident occurs, we will have nothing to handle it with,” Mr. Bronnykov pointed out. These words of the UNS president were again confirmed by the latest events at the Southern Ukrainian NPP.
The Southern Ukrainian NPP’s power unit 4 has again been shut down, Interfax-Ukraine reports. The 1000-MW unit was disconnected on December 7 at eight p.m. due to a leak in the first steam generator. Earlier that same day, the unit had been connected to the grid at 12:58 p.m. after routine maintenance. As of October 8, only nine out of fourteen Ukrainian nuclear power units were operational. Under repairs were power units Nos. 3 and 4 in Zaporizhzhia, No. 3 in Rivne, and No. 3 in Chornobyl.
INCIDENTALLY
The Internet newspaper Pro.UA (www.pro-ua.com) reported on December 8 that Heorhy Kopchynsky had been relived of his post as director of the State Department of Nuclear Energy at his own request by the a Cabinet of Ministers resolution dated December 6.
