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Ukraine to start building four new nuclear reactors this year - minister

Kyiv wants to compensate the capacity lost due to the war.

Ukraine to start building four new nuclear reactors this year - minister
Khmelnytskyy NPP
Photo: Energoatom

Ukraine expects to start construction of four new nuclear reactors this summer or autumn in 2024, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko has told Reuters.

In this way, Ukraine wants to compensate for the lost energy capacity due to the war with Russia.

Two power units will be built on Russian-made equipment, which Ukraine wants to import from Bulgaria, and the other two will use Western technologies of the energy equipment manufacturer Westinghouse.

All four reactors will be built at Khmelnytskyy NPP.

Earlier, Kyiv said that work would start in early 2024, but did not specify that all four reactors could be built simultaneously.

Construction of Khmelnytskyy NPP's third and fourth units began in the 1980s but was later frozen.

Since gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine has built three new nuclear reactors - one each at Zaporizhzhya, Khmelnytskyy and Rivne NPPs.

Today, nuclear power plants in the government-controlled territories generate more than 55% of the country's electricity needs, but Kyiv wants to expand capacity to compensate for the loss of Zaporizhzhya NPP.

Negotiations are currently underway with the Bulgarian side on two reactors.

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