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(updated 9 June 2010)
A large share of primary energy supply in Ukraine comes from the country's uranium and substantial coal resources. The remainder is oil and gas, mostly imported from Russia. In 1991, due to breakdown of the Soviet Union, the country's economy collapsed and its electricity consumption declined dramatically from 296 billion kWh in 1990 to 170 in 2000, all the decrease being from coal and gas plants.
Total electricity production in 2007 amounted to 195 billion kWh, with 9 billion kWh net exports, and total capacity is over 52 GWe. In 2007 47.4% of power came from coal and gas (approx 20% gas), 47.5% from nuclear (92.5 TWh) and 5% from hydro. In 2009, 77.9 billion kWh came from nuclear, according to IAEA. Energoatom figures for electricity production in May 2010 gave 49.8% nuclear, 5.5% hydro and 44.7% coal and gas. Nuclear plant comprises 26.6% of capacity, hydro 9.3%.
A major increase in electricity demand to 307 billion kWh per year by 2020 and 420 billion kWh by 2030 is envisaged, and government policy is to continue supplying half of this from nuclear power. This will require 29.5 GWe of nuclear capacity in 2030, up from 13.9 GWe (13.2 GWe net) now.
Nuclear industry development
Nuclear energy development started in 1970 with construction of the Chernobyl power plant, the first unit being commissioned in 1977.
Though the Ukrainian nuclear industry was closely involved with Russia for many years, it remained relatively stable during the changes that occurred when the country became independent of the former Soviet Union. In fact, during that period and since, there have been continuing improvements in the operational safety and output levels of Ukraine's nuclear reactors.
Ukraine's 15 nuclear power units at four nuclear power plants are operated by Energoatom, the country's nuclear power utility. The capacity increased from 11 268 MWe net in 2003 to 13 168 in 2005 which was 26.3% of the country's total installed capacity. This increase was due to addition of two new VVER-1000 reactors.
All are Russian VVER types, two being 440 MWe V-312 models and the rest the larger 1000 MWe units - two early models and the rest V-320s.
Power reactors have operated in Ukraine since 1977, and over 300 reactor years of operating experience have been accumulated. Load factors have increased steadily and reached 81.4% in 2004. A decrease of the country's load factor after 2005 is related to restrictions imposed by the national electricity grid.
Nuclear plant load factors
At the end of 1995 Zaporozhe unit 6 was connected to the grid making Zaporozhe the largest nuclear power station in Europe, with a net capacity of 5718 MWe. (The second largest station operating is Gravelines, near Dunkerque in France, with a net capacity of 5460 MWe.)
In August and October 2004 Khmelnitsky-2 and Rovno-4 respectively were connected to the grid, bringing their long and interrupted construction to an end and adding 1900 MWe to replace that lost by closure of Chernobyl 1 & 3 in 1996 and 2003 respectively. They were completed by Energoatom using a consortium of Framatome ANP and Atomstroyexport.
In 1990 construction of three reactors (units 2-4) at Khmelnitski had been halted, though the site infrastructure for all four units was largely complete. Unit 3 was (and is) 75% complete, unit 4: 28% complete. These have been maintained to some extent since.
Ukraine power reactors operating
Life extension: Original design lifetime of the reactors was 30 years. Energoatom is planning to extend the lifetimes of Rovno 1 & 2 and South Ukraine-1 by 15 years. Major work on Rovno 1 has been undertaken and final results of checking the pressure vessels (for embrittlement) and the internals of all three units was to be considered in 2008-9. Early in 2009 the Minister of Emergency Situations said that IAEA inspections had shown that 15-year life extensions were technically possible. In 2010 Energoatom said it planned to extend all rector lifetimes by 15 years.
Ukraine's best-known nuclear power plant was Chernobyl (Chornobyl in Ukrainian). This had the only RBMK type reactors in the country. Unit 4 was destroyed in the 1986 accident, unit 2 was shut down after a turbine hall fire in 1991, unit 1 was closed in 1997 and unit 3 closed at the end of 2000 due to international pressure.
Interruptions in natural gas supply from Russia in January 2006 sharply focused attention on the need for greater energy security and the role of nuclear power in achieving this. A nuclear power strategy involving building and commissioning 11 new reactors with total capacity of 16.5 GWe (and 9 replacement units totaling 10.5 GWe) to more than double nuclear capacity by 2030 was approved by the government in 2006 to enhance Ukraine's energy independence. See Table below.
Late in 2006 the government moved to set up a new national nuclear industry entity - Ukratomprom, as a vertically-integrated nuclear holding company reporting to Energy Ministry and cabinet. Ukratomprom was to consist of six state-owned enterprises including Energoatom, the VostGOK uranium mining company, and the Novokonstantinov uranium development company, with assets of some US$ 10 billion, including $6.35 billion for Energoatom. Three major projects were to be launched in 2007, including a $1875 million uranium production venture comprising refurbishment of VostGOK's hydrometallurgical plant and construction of a uranium mill at Novokonstantinov. Then it was announced that Energoatom would not be included in Ukratomprom, and soon afterwards plans were abandoned.
Energoatom has set up Atomproektengineering to handle new nuclear power projects, including investment, design, and construction. It has already been involved with Khmelnitsky 3 & 4 (see below).
Russia has made strenuous efforts to regain its influence in Ukraine, and early in 2010 various proposals for civil nuclear joint ventures were put forward. In April the Russian president suggested "full-scale cooperation of our nuclear industries," and that the two countries establish a large holding company that would include power generation, heavy engineering and fuel cycle facilities. As a first stage, he suggested a merger involving Ukrainian uranium mining with Russia's Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant in Siberia, which produces VVER fuel. Also he noted that Ukraine's Turboatom was producing large steam turbines solely for Russia. Furthermore, all Ukrainian reactors need modernization which, he said, could be most effective with close cooperation of Russian enterprises, at the same time as opening access for Ukrainian partners to the Russian market as it greatly expands nuclear capacity. In addition, Russia and Ukraine could collaborate in foreign markets on the basis of financing provided by the Russian government and leading financial institutions. Finally he raised the possibility of merging Energoatom's and Rosenergoatom's nuclear generation. Ukraine's president agreed in principle that some of these suggestions would be a good idea.
Rosatom followed up with the suggestion that if Ukraine signed long-term (25-year) fuel supply contracts with Russia it would enjoy a discount of more than US$ 1 billion. Furthermore, Rosatom was ready to transfer up to 50% of the shares in the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant to Ukrainian partners and establish domestic fuel production, either “either [as] a branch of the combine where we can be shareholders together, or a new plant in the Ukrainian territory." Rosatom reiterated its long-standing desire to take a share of Ukraine's Novokonstantinov uranium project, and also proposed a joint venture bringing together the heavy engineering assets of Moscow's Atomenergomash and Ukraine's Turboatom at Kharkov.
Increasing nuclear power capacity
The 2006 strategy envisaged completing Khmelnitski 3 & 4, which were respectively 75% and 28% complete when work stopped in 1990. The government announced in September 2008 that construction on these would resume in 2010 for completion in 2016 and 2017, though these dates have since come forward. It has awarded a contract to Atomstroyexport for AES-92 plants with V-392B reactors similar to those already on the site. In June 2010 an intergovernmental agreement was signed, under which Russia will largely finance the project. Some 85% of the EUR 4 billion project is to be financed through a Russian loan, with 15% funding coming from Ukraine. The loan is to be repaid within five years after the reactors go into service.
It was expected that an international tender would open up the choice of technology and in March 2008 Areva, Westinghouse and South Korean suppliers were invited to bid, along with Atomstroyexport and Skoda - all involving pressurized water (PWR) types. In the event only Atomstroyexport and Korea HNP submitted bids.
Ukraine power reactor construction, planned and proposed (all PWR type)
Energoatom proposes to select a standard PWR (or possibly Candu) design from among leading vendors for the remaining planned units after Khmelnitsky 3 & 4. This will involve consideration of local content in the plants.
In connection with the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, the South Ukraine Power Complex also consists of the 11.5 MWe Olexandrivka Hydro Power Plant on the river Pivdenny Buh, generating annually over 25 million kWh; and the 2 x 150 MWe Tashlyk Hydro Pumped Storage Power Plant commissioned in 2006-07, with total annual production of 175 million kWh. The hydro units of the South Ukraine Power Complex belong to the country's nuclear utility Energoatom, and they serve as an important regulation of the peak capacity for load-following.
Energoatom has been planning to raise its electricity tariff in order to finance reorganization of the nuclear fuel cycle complex and to implement safety modernizations at all plants. The nuclear tariff is expected to rise further by 2015 to enable funding of life extensions and construction of new plants.
In February 2010 Energoatom signed a cooperation agreement with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co (CGNPC) relating to nuclear power plant design, construction, operation and maintenance.
Ukraine's JSC Turboatom at Kharkov, established in 1934 and now 75.2% government-owned, is among the leading world turbine-building companies. It specializes in steam turbines for thermal and nuclear power plants, and has the capacity to produce 8000 MWe of such per year, with individual units up to 1100 MWe. It has supplied 110 turbines totaling 50 GWe for 24 nuclear power plants. Ukrainian power plants employ 47 Turboatom-made turbines plus 43 Russian ones. Turboatom's major competitors are the Power Machines Co in Russia and Germany's Siemens. Much of its production in 2010 was for Russia.
The K2-R4 saga
In the 1990s both the government and Energoatom were determined to bring two new reactors - Khmelnitski-2 and Rovno-4 (K2-R4) into operation as soon as possible. Both reactors were 80% complete when a halt was imposed in 1990.
In 1995 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Governments of the G7 countries, the EC and the Ukrainian government which required closure of the operating Chernobyl reactors. Thus, Chernobyl reactors were shut down - the last in December 2000.
The Memorandum stipulated the agreement on international financial aid to Ukraine to support Chernobyl decommissioning, power sector restructuring, completion of K2-R4 nuclear reactors, thermal and hydro plant rehabilitation, construction of a pumped storage plant, and to support energy efficiency projects in accordance with Ukraine's energy sector strategy.
In 2000 the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) approved (by an 89% vote apart from abstentions) a US$ 215 million loan towards completion of K2-R4. This EBRD funding, though a modest part of the US$ 1480 million estimated to be required, was a key factor in plans for their completion to western safety standards. Conditions on the loan included safety enhancement of all 13 Ukraine nuclear power reactors, independence for the country's nuclear regulator, and electricity market reform.
Following approval of the EBRD loan, the European Commission (EC) approved a US$ 585 million loan to Energoatom. The EC said that approval of this Euratom funding "a few days before the permanent closure of Chernobyl gives a clear sign of the Commission's commitment to nuclear safety ... as well as to the deepening of [EU] relations with Ukraine." It "will finance the completion, modernisation and commissioning of two third-generation nuclear units". The EC pointed out that it and the EBRD had concluded that the project met all safety, environmental, economic and financial criteria.
Russia earlier provided US$ 225 million credit for K2/R4 equipment and fuel, then in 2002 a Russian loan of US$ 44 million for completion of the units was approved. The arrangement covered goods and services from Russia. It followed signing of a US$ 144 million agreement in June, including about US$ 100 million of fuel.
However the promised loans of US$ 215 million and the Euratom's US$ 585 million were deferred late in 2001 because the government had baulked at doubling the wholesale price of power to USD 2.5 cent/kWh as required by EBRD. Ukraine also rejected almost all approved Russian loans. The Ukrainian government then approved estimates for the completion, site works and upgrades for the K2 - R4 nuclear power reactors, at US$ 621 million and US$ 642 million respectively. With local finance and a bond issue, Energoatom proceeded with work on both units.
In July 2004, prior to start-up of the two units, the EBRD finally approved a scaled-down loan of US$ 42 million. This sum was matched by US$ 83 million from Euratom, approved by the EC. The project finances the post-start-up component of a safety and modernisation program developed for K2 and R4.
The loan was approved on condition that revised tariffs are implemented in order to fund upgrading of all 13 operating power reactors in Ukraine to K2-R4 standards, that a decommissioning fund is set up and "an internationally agreed level of nuclear liability insurance" is reached.
A program on modernisation and safety improvement of K2-R4 was established taking into account IAEA's recommendations. It consists of 147 "pre-commissioning", "post-commissioning" and "before and after commissioning" measures. In 2003-2004, Framatome ANP, an independent expert of the EBRD, together with the local Riskaudit Company, reviewed the implementation status and sufficiency of the program. They assessed positively the result of this program's implementation.
In August 2004 the Ukrainian President said that Western governments had failed to honour their 1995 undertakings to assist his country in exchange for closing the Chernobyl plant, particularly in relation to the Khmelnitsky-2 and Rovno-4 completion, grid infrastructure and a pumped storage hydro plant.
Uranium resources and mining
Ukraine has modest recoverable resources of uranium - 200,000 tU according to IAEA Red Book 2007 and 131,000 tU according to the Energy Ministry. Uranium mining began in 1948 at Pervomayskoye, and 65,000 tU have been produced so far. Current production is about 800 tU/yr (830 tU in 2009).
The Vostochny (Eastern) Uranium Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (VostGOK) produces up to 830 tonnes of uranium per year - around 30% of the country's requirements. This is from two deposits - Ingulskaya and Smolinskaya - at Zholtye Vody in Dnepropetrovsk region, and Safonovskoye in Nikolaev region. The main undeveloped deposit is said to be Mikhailovskoye in Kirovograd region. In both these regions mineralization occurs in metasomatic deposits up to 1300 metres deep. However, in situ leaching (ISL) is used at Ingulskaya and Safonovskoye and is planned for Smolinskaya.
Some ore is railed up to 130 km to the central mill, which was built in 1958, rebuilt in the 1970s, and is due for further refurbishment. Typical grade is 0.1%. In 2010, it is planned to expand processing capacities at the hydrometallurgical plant at Zheltovodskaya.
In June 2009 VostGOK announced that it planned to develop the Safonovskoye deposit in Kazankovsky District of Nikolaev Region, northwest Ukraine, using in situ leaching (ISL) to produce 100-150 tU/yr from 2011.
In 2009 VostGOK continued re-treatment of tailings at Smolinskaya mine, and the same is planned for Ingulskaya mine, both for uranium recovery and environmental reasons
Ukraine is giving priority and investing heavily to boost uranium production and this involves opening the way for foreign investment. It expects to be producing 1100 tU/yr by 2010 and fully satisfy its domestic demand of up to 1880 tU/yr by 2013.
The Novokonstantinovskoye uranium project was being developed independently of VostGOK by the Novokonstantinov uranium development company, to produce up to 1500 t/yr by 2013, and 2500 t/yr eventually, but deelopment languished in 2009. Three levels have been opened up at 680 to 1090 metres depth. Ceremonial first production was in August 2008, with 500 t/yr capacity targeted by end of 2009. Russia's Rosatom had said it was keen to invest in developing the project, but agreement on equity was not reached. The government was seeking partners to help fund the $820 million development cost, but after becoming impatient with disputes, it legislated to put the project under VostGOK from December 2009. However, this edict was canceled in February 2010, and the regional Public Utility Company Nedra Kirovogradshchiny was then to take over responsibility.
Australian-based Uran Ltd has agreed with Ukraine's Ministry of Fuel & Energy and VostGOK to carry out a feasibility study for ISL mining of the small Surskoye and Novogurevskoye uranium deposits in the east of the country, near VostGOK's existing operations. The agreements set out terms under which Uran might enter into a Joint Venture over the two sedimentary deposits in the Dnipropetrovsky region. Uran also offered to develop the more substantial Novokonstantinovskoye and take a 50% interest, but the government vetoed this. In 2009 the company said that it "will not be pursuing its agreements in Ukraine until a greater degree of stability and certainty can be assured."
Ukraine also has zirconium resources, and expects to supply zirconium to Russia.
Fuel cycle
Ukrainian uranium concentrate and zirconium alloy are sent to Russia for fuel fabrication. The nuclear fuel produced from these Ukrainian components by TVEL in Russia then returns to Ukrainian NPPs.
The country depends primarily on Russia to provide other nuclear fuel cycle services also, notably enrichment. In June 2007 Ukraine agreed to investigate joining the new International Uranium Enrichment Centre (IUEC) at Angarsk, in Siberia, and to explore other areas of cooperation in the nuclear fuel cycle and building power reactors in other countries. Late in 2008 it signed an agreement for Ukraine's Nuclear Fuel Holding Company to take a 10% stake in the IUEC at Angarsk.
In order to diversify nuclear fuel supplies, Energoatom started implementation of the Ukraine Nuclear Fuel Qualification Project (UNFQP). The Project assumed the use of US-manufactured fuel in the VVER-1000 following the selection of Westinghouse as a vendor on a tender basis. In 2005, South Ukraine's third unit was the country's first to use the six lead test assemblies supplied by Westinghouse, which were placed into the reactor core together with Russian fuel for a period of pilot operation. A reload batch of 42 fuel assemblies was provided by Westinghouse in mid-2009 for a three-year period of commercial operation at the unit with regular monitoring and reporting. In addition to the initial supply of fuel from Westinghouse, other aims of the project included the transfer of technology for the design of nuclear fuel.
However, in June 2010, Energoatom signed a long-term fuel supply contract with TVEL for all 15 reactors. Earlier, Rosatom had offered a substantial discount to Ukraine if it signed up with TVEL for 20 years. TVEL and Westinghouse are now discussing the possibility of building a fuel fabrication plant in Ukraine.
An attempt was made in the 1990s to set up a complete suite of fuel cycle facilities other than enrichment, but this failed for political and financial reasons. The December 2006 decision to form Ukratomprom revived intentions to build a fuel fabrication plant. Russia has since offered to transfer fuel fabrication technology. Ukraine has been seeking cooperation with other countries which have experience in the nuclear fuel cycle as a part of its effort to increase its supply of low-cost nuclear electricity and to reduce its imports of natural gas and other energy sources from Russia.
In December 2005 Ukraine and the EU signed an energy cooperation agreement which links the country more strongly to western Europe in respect to both nuclear energy and electricity supply.
In May 2008 Ukraine's Ministry of Fuels and Energy signed an agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) to develop CANDU technology. This could provide synergies with the existing Ukrainian VVER reactors by burning uranium recovered from the VVERs' used fuel. Such recycled uranium has fissile content similar to natural uranium and can be directly used in CANDU reactors. The technology development is known as DUPIC - Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In Candu reactors. This has long been mooted by AECL, but is further ahead in South Korea than elsewhere due to their mix of PWR and CANDU reactor technologies.
Radioactive Waste Management
There is no intention to close the fuel cycle in Ukraine, though the possibility remains under consideration. Nor is there a full radioactive waste management strategy. Pending this, storage of used fuel for at least 50 years is the policy.
Used fuel is mostly stored on site though some VVER-440 fuel is again being sent to Russia for reprocessing. At Zaporozhe a long-term dry storage facility for spent fuel has operated since 2001, but other VVER-1000 spent fuel is sent to Russia for storage. A centralised dry storage facility for spent fuel is proposed for construction in the government's new energy strategy, to operate from 2010.
In December 2005, the Ukrainian government signed a US$ 150 million agreement with the US-based Holtec International to implement the Central Spent Fuel Storage Project for Ukraine's VVER reactors, and in April 2007 Energoatom and Holtec signed the contract to proceed with this.
Used fuel from decommissioned RBMK reactors at Chernobyl is stored, and a new dry storage facility is under construction there. In September 2007 Holtec International and the Ukrainian government signed a contract to complete the placement of Chernobyl's used nuclear fuel in dry storage systems (ISF-2). Removing the radioactive fuel from the three undamaged Chernobyl reactors is essential to the start of decommissioning them. Holtec will complete the dry storage project, begun in 1999 by French Framatome, and plans to use as much of the previous work on the project as possible, with the protection of public health and safety as the overriding criteria. The project is estimated to be worth EUR 200 million (US$ 269 million) over 52 months. There is full endorsement from the Assembly of Donors, who provide funding for Chernobyl remediation and decommissioning.
Holtec also won a tender conducted by the State Specialized Enterprise "Chernobyl NPP" (SSE ChNPP) to develop a storage system design for the "failed" (damaged) used fuel in dry storage ISF-2.
Also at Chernobyl, Nukem has constructed an Industrial Complex for Radwaste Management (ICSRM) which was handed over in April 2009. In this, solid low- and intermediate-level wastes accumulated from the power plant operations and the decommissioning of reactor blocks 1 to 3 is conditioned by incineration, high-force compaction, and cementation, as required and then packaged for disposal. In addition, highly radioactive and long-lived solid waste is sorted out for temporary separate storage. A low-level waste repository has also been built at the Vektor complex 17 km away.
From 2011, high-level wastes from reprocessing Ukrainian fuel will be returned from Russia to Ukraine and will go to the central dry storage facility.
Preliminary investigations have shortlisted sites for a deep geological repository for high- and intermediate-level wastes including all those arising from Chernobyl decommissioning and clean-up.
Decommissioning
Four Chernobyl RBMK-1000 reactors, plus two almost-completed ones, are being decommissioned. Unit 4, which was destroyed in the 1986 accident, is enclosed in a large shelter and a new, more durable containment structure is to be built.
This shelter project will be funded by the International Chernobyl Shelter Fund facilitated by the EBRD and is expected to cost about EUR 700 million, all of which has now been pledged. In September 2007 a EUR 430 million contract was signed with a French-led consortium to build this new shelter, to enclose both the destroyed Chernobyl-4 reactor and the hastily-built 1986 structure over it. It will be a metal arch 105 metres high and spanning 257m, which will be built adjacent and then moved into place.
In May 2005, international donors made pledges worth approximately EUR 150 million towards the new confinement shelter. The largest contribution, worth more than EUR 130 million, came from the G8 and the EU. Russia contributed to the fund for the first time and other fund members, which include the USA, increased their contributions, with the Ukrainian government pledging some EUR 15 million. The European Commission has committed EUR 239.5 million since 1997, making it the main donor.
Units 1-3 are undergoing decommissioning conventionally - the first RBMK units to do so, and work will accelerate when the new dry storage facility for fuel is built (see Waste Management above).
R&D
Ukraine has two research reactors, a very small one at the naval Engineering school and a 10 MW tank type one - VVR-M - which was commissioned in 1960 at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kiev. This is due to close in 2015 and plans for a $250 million replacement were announced in 2008.
Organisation
In 1996 the former nuclear operating entity Goskomatom spawned a new corporate nuclear utility, Energoatom. Then Goskomatom was replaced by two Departments within the Fuel & Energy Ministry: a Department for Nuclear Energy, responsible for civil nuclear power plants operation, and a Department for Atomic Industry, responsible for the development of nuclear fuel cycle. Energoatom's current priorities are to increase safety, bring load factors up to 83-85%, and extend the working lives of the reactors by 10-15 years (at about US$ 150 million per VVER-1000 reactor).
The regulator is the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee of Ukraine (SNRC), now an independent authority (it was until 2001 under the Ministry of Environment Protection & Nuclear Safety).
The 1995 law on Nuclear Energy Use and Radiation Safety establishes the legal basis of the industry and included a provision for the operating plant to have full legal responsibility for the consequences of any accident. The 1995 law on Radioactive Waste Management complements this, and the consequent state program was approved in 2002.
Non-proliferation
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukraine negotiated to repatriate nuclear warheads and missiles to Russia in return for nuclear fuel supplies. Ukraine then joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapons state. Its safeguards agreement under the NPT came into force in 1998, and in 2005 the Additional Protocol to this agreement was ratified.
Main sources:IAEA 2002, Country Nuclear Power ProfilesPerera, Judith 2003, Nuclear Power in the Former USSR, McCloskey, UK.Ukrainian Ministry of Fuel & Energy http://mpe.kmu.gov.uaNational Energy Regulatory Commission http://www.nerc.gov.ua/National Nuclear Energy Generating Company ENERGOATOM http://www.energoatom.kiev.ua/NuclearFuel 29/1 & 18/6/07.IAEA 1999: http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/Chernobyl-15/shelter-fund.pdf