Energoatom insists on denunciation of agreement with Russia

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry continues to block the initiatives of the national nuclear company Energoatom, condemning the bilateral intergovernmental agreement with Russia on the completion of the construction of two reactors at the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant. Energoatom reports that it was forced to turn to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for help. Natalya Musevich, director of legal affairs at Energoatom, said the company was trying to denounce an agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Russian government on cooperation in the construction of the third and fourth reactors of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant.

Since 2014, the company has repeatedly sent proposals to the Ministry of Energy, as a result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was instructed to develop and submit proposals to denounce the agreement. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not agree with the document and made comments on the choice of an alternative supplier of reactor equipment, the Czech Skoda JS. Explaining that "the Czech company has an owner in Russia, and this will not guarantee diversification of spare parts supplies and will not reduce dependence on Russia."

However, Musevich noted that the cost of equipment to be supplied by Skoda JS is no more than 20-25 percent of the total project cost. Currently, the construction project depends on Russia in both technical and financial aspects. At present, the readiness of the third power unit is 75 percent, and the fourth unit is 25 percent. The cost of completing the construction of these power units is estimated at 3.7 billion euros, taking into account the first loading of fuel.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also doubts the feasibility study of replacing the reactor supplier and building reactors based on existing structures, giving the impression that it has specialists capable of drawing such conclusions. The ministry said the draft decision did not include measures to prevent possible countermeasures by Russia.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Development agreed on the draft document. Musevich said that later, after consultations in the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, it was decided to initiate the adoption of a law on denunciation of the agreement, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give its consent and again presented similar claims to the resolution of the project on construction issues of the third and fourth reactors of the Khmelnitsky NPP.