The condition of the future construction site of units 3&4 at Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant is satisfactory, according to the preliminary conclusion of the working group which has been examining the plant since 22 September.
The group considered production and assembly areas at all stages of construction, further installation, start-up and testing of the units. The working group considered proposals for the placement of the construction organisations, and the arrangement of temporary and permanent roads. An assessment of the existing and the possible need for laying new engineering networks was also carried out. Options for the placement of mobile buildings and structures for industrial, storage and sanitary purposes, as well as the future directorate for the completion of the units were considered.
Among the most important issues of future construction, to which the specialists of the working group paid special attention, was the assessment of the technical condition of the cranes necessary to ensure construction and installation work. The final stage of the working group's activities will be the formation of a task on the composition of the preparatory period for the construction of the units, which will be approved in a "Plan of preparatory measures".
The working group included specialists from Atomproektengineering, Atomenergomash, Energoatom, Atompribor, JSC KIEP and CJSC Yuzhenergostroy.
Currently, Khmelnitsky 3 is 75% complete and Khmelnitsky 4 is 15% complete. Construction of the units began in 1985-1986, but work was suspended in 1990 due to a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants. They are both Russian-design VVER-1000 units (as are units 1&2).
The total cost of completing Khmelnitsky 3&4 in current prices is estimated at UAH 76.8 billion ($2.8 billion). The two units, once completed, will generate an additional 16 billion kWh of electricity a year, and the annual income will be at least UAH 9.8 billion.
A Presidential decree in September instructed the Cabinet to submit a bill on the location, design and construction of the two units.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed support for Ukraine to expand its use of nuclear power while speaking to reporters during his visit to the Rovno region on 1 October.
"We have a strategy for the development of nuclear energy and the completion of nuclear power plants in Ukraine," the President said when asked about completing two new units at the Khmelnitsky nuclear plant.
Photo: Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant has two operating units and two partially-completed reactors (Credit: Energoatom)
