The Ukrainian government has approved a feasibility study for completion of units 3 and 4 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear plant at a cost of UAH72.4bn ($2.7bn), including equipment costing UAH46.bn.
The decision requires further approval from the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, nuclear utility Energoatom and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Unian news agency reported on 27 July.
Construction of Khmelnitsky 3 began in 1985 and construction of Khmelnitsky 4 in 1986. Work was suspended in 1990 when they were 75% and 28% complete respectively following the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
Russian company Atomstroyexport (part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom) won an international tender to complete the partially built units in October 2008, in competition with US-based Westinghouse and the Korean Electric Power Company. The agreement with Rosatom was signed in June 2010 by the administration of president Viktor Yanukovich and was ratified in 2011. Russia was to secure the financing to develop, construct, and put into operation two new VVER-1000/392 reactors at Khmelnitski 3&4. In February 2011, Atomstroyexport signed a contract with Energoatom for the development of the technical design for the units.
Following the change of government in 2014, Energoatom head Yuri Nedashkovsky cancelled the agreement alleging lack of any progress in the implementation of the project. In 2015, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) confirmed the cancellation. In early November 2017, Energoatom received a proposal from the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and the Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to provide loans to finance the completion of the Khmelnitsky units.
According to the feasibility study, which Unian has seen, after the cancellation of the original agreement with Russia, the only option for completion in the shortest possible time and at minimal cost was to use VVER-1000 reactors supplied by Czech company Skoda JS (part of Russian engineering group OMZ). Turboatom to supply the turbine and Electrotyazhmash the generator (both are Ukrainian companies).
Construction of the two units with 2094MWe capacity will take 84 months with the commissioning of unit 3 scheduled for 2025. The report also said the units would use Westinghouse fuel.
