What future for nuclear power in Ukraine?
Channel: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Date: 16/10/2020

EU-Ukrainian Virtual Roundtable on Energy Transition


Speakers:
- Massimo Garribba, Deputy Director General at Directorate-General for ENERGY, European Commission, Brussels
- Antony Froggatt, Senior research fellow at Chatham House, co-author of The World Nuclear Industry Status Reports, London
- Nataliia Rybalka, Deputy Director of Directorate of Development of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Industry, Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, Kyiv
- Oleksandra Zaika, Energy policy expert, NGO “Ecoaction”, Kyiv

Welcome: Robert Sperfeld, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berlin

Moderation: Oksana Aliieva, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Kyiv


The recent announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to complete the construction of two additional reactor blocks at Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has attracted new attention to the perspectives of the nuclear sector in Ukraine. Currently, 15 operational nuclear units at the four NPP in Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia and South-Ukraine cover approximately half of Ukraine’s electricity demand. Except for three of the units, all have exceeded their initially projected lifetimes. Extensions for 10 - 20 years were granted and related ongoing safety upgrades are partly funded by the EU in the framework of Euratom and EBRD programs. The development of the sector is usually not much discussed at the political level neither within the country nor with regard to the relations with the European Union, though the possible consequences of the course of development in the sector are substantial.

A first set of questions relates to safety issues - both to the improper implementation of the safety upgrades in the old units and to the feasibility of constructing new units relying on 30-year old technical project documentation and infrastructure. Second, looking to global trends of nuclear power developments, the business case of an investment into new nuclear blocks compared to renewable electricity generation seems at least questionable. Multiple risks can become a burden heavy to carry for the Ukrainian economy. Already now, the earnings of nuclear electricity generation are not at all sufficient to contribute to the Decommissioning Fund of the state owned enterprise “Energoatom” that operates the NPP. This situation is also linked to a number of electricity market distortions that for political reasons do not allow for real market participation of “Energoatom”. Finally yet importantly, there seems to be no seriously elaborated strategy for the role of nuclear power in a decarbonized economy based on renewables that will need flexible balancing but not baseload generation.  

The third EU-Ukrainian Roundtable on Energy transition will provide background on these topics and discuss the possible implications for Ukraine’s energy relations with the European Union in the context of the implementation of the European Green Deal.


Article "Ukraine's nuclear impasse", 12.10.2020, By Oleksandra Zaika https://ua.boell.org/en/2020/10/12/ukraines-nuclear-impasse?fbclid=IwAR0f6eHKPyy6om1hE2o0ieopIpzYG7lEym6PgwmcrWT7iyj9sG-a0BQZPOQ

Fact Sheet "Ukraine and EU: Towards a Decarbonisation Partnership", 2019, Heinrich Böll Stiftung https://www.boell.de/en/2019/12/13/ukraine-and-eu-towards-decarbonisation-partnership


Current analysis and articles on energy transition in Ukraine on https://ua.boell.org/index.php/en/climate-energeticsua.boell.org