Nuclear power in Ukraine
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In 2014, nuclear power supplied 49.4% of Ukraine's electricity production of 168 billion kWh. The total installed capacity of nuclear reactors in Ukraine was over 13 GWe.[1]
Ukraine is one of Europe’s largest energy consumers, it consumes almost twice the energy of Germany, per unit of GDP.[2] A large share of energy supply in Ukraine comes from nuclear power. Energoatom, a Ukrainian state enterprise, operates all four active nuclear power stations in Ukraine.[3]
Contents
Overview
Ukraine used to receive its nuclear fuel exclusively from Russia. But since 2008 the country also gets nuclear fuel from Westinghouse.[4] Oil and natural gas provide the remainder of the country's energy; these are also imported from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine is heavily dependent on its nuclear energy. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located in Ukraine. In 2006, the government planned to build 11 new reactors by the year 2030, in effect, almost doubling the current amount of nuclear power capacity.[5] Ukraine's power sector is the twelfth-largest in the world in terms of installed capacity, with 54 gigawatts (GW).[2] Renewable energy still plays a very modest role in electrical output; in 2005 energy production was met by the following sources: nuclear (47 percent), thermal (45 percent), hydroelectric and other (8 percent).[5]
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western USSR and Europe. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster).[6] The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles, crippling the Soviet economy.[7]
In 2011 Energoatom began a project to bring safety into line with international standards at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion, with a target completion date of 2017. In 2015 the completion date was put back to 2020, due to financing delays.[8]
Uranium mining
In 2005 there were 17 deposits on the state balance account.[9] Three of them Vatutine, Central, and Michurinske were being developed, while at the Novokostiantyniv was being built an ore enrichment factory.[9] Number of deposits are exhausted (i.e. Devladove, Zhovtorichenske, Pershotravneve, Bratske).[10][9]
Reactors
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All of Ukraine's RBMK reactors (the type involved in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster) were located at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. All of the reactors there have been shut down, leaving only the much safer VVER reactors operating in the country. Three of the reactors listed were built in post-independence Ukraine, with the first one of these being constructed in 1995; the other sixteen reactors the country inherited from the Soviet Union.
| Name | Location | Type | Capacity, MWe | Operational | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chernobyl NPP | Pripyat | RBMK | 1000 | 1977-1996 | |
| RBMK | 1000 | 1978-1991 | |||
| RBMK | 1000 | 1981-2000 | |||
| RBMK | 1000 | 1984-1986 | exploded in the Chernobyl accident | ||
| Khmelnytsky | Netishyn | VVER | 1000 | 1987- | |
| VVER | 1000 | 2004- | |||
| Rivne | Kuznetsovsk | VVER | 402 | 1980- | |
| VVER | 417 | 1981- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 1986- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 2004- | |||
| South Ukraine | Yuzhnoukrainsk | VVER | 1000 | 1982- | |
| VVER | 1000 | 1985- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 1989- | |||
| Zaporizhzhia | Enerhodar | VVER | 1000 | 1984- | largest nuclear power plant of Europe |
| VVER | 1000 | 1985- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 1986- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 1987- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 1989- | |||
| VVER | 1000 | 1995- | |||
| Total | Ukraine | VVER | 13819 | 1981 (1978)- |
See also
- Energoatom (Ukraine)
- Nuclear energy policy in general
- Power generation in Ukraine
- List of power stations in Ukraine
- List of Chernobyl-related articles
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Energoatom chief Kim overstepped his powers when signing contract, failed to show up for questioning, says interior minister, Interfax-Ukraine (12 June 2013)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Westinghouse CEO: We are ready to put our fuel in all of Ukraine’s NPP, UNIAN (28 October 2015) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ From interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, Hans Blix and Vassili Nesterenko. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Relevant video locations: 31:00, 1:10:00.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 About economic feasibility to attract investments in exploration and development of uranium deposits in Ukraine. Ukrainian geological projects.
- ↑ Sieroi, S. Uranium plus gold, is that a solution to crisis? "Den". 22 May 1998.
