By KYIV. Dec 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Energoatom Petro Kotin and Westinghouse CEO Patrick Fragman signed a contract on Sunday in Kyiv for the purchase of a reactor plant for Ukraine’s first nuclear power unit (NPP) using AP1000 technology.
“This means that we are beginning the practical implementation of our course towards a complete withdrawal from Soviet-Russian technologies, and cooperation with our American partners to strengthen Ukraine’s energy security and update our nuclear energy,” Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said.
According to him, the installation has already been manufactured and is currently located in the United States. Construction work at the Khmelnytsky NPP site will begin after the adoption of the necessary legislation by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
“We are moving on a fairly coordinated schedule. We are now completing work on the feasibility study, then the corresponding law should be adopted (on the construction of KH5/KH6 units),” the minister clarified.
Haluschenko recalled that financing will be provided from Energoatom’s own funds and attracted lending from U.S. Exim Bank, and the cost of construction of one AP1000 block is estimated at about $5 billion.
In turn, Kotin clarified that after the adoption of the law, the company will be ready to begin work as soon as possible on the construction of a unit that will add 1.1 GW of installed electrical capacity to the country’s energy system.
“With the contract signed today, we put an end to the purchase of equipment for one unit, i.e. we guarantee that we buy this equipment and it will be installed by us,” the head of Energoatom said.
The head of Westinghouse recalled that five AP1000 units have already been built and are operating at nuclear power plants in the United States and China, and another five units are almost ready to begin operation. “These reactors are already operating in the USA and China. In terms of the cost of electricity in China, AP1000 is very competitive even amid their very developed energy sector,” Fragman emphasized.
