American “Maidan” at Ukrainian nuclear power plants
Ukraine has become a real battlefield between the United States and Russia in the field of nuclear energy. The new authorities in Kyiv are ready to make any concessions to Washington in order to weaken Moscow’s position in the field of peaceful nuclear energy.
Close ties with Russia in the field of nuclear energy are clear: all Ukrainian nuclear power plants were built during the Soviet era using Soviet technologies, the “eastern partner” retained control over most of them. Taking into account the share of nuclear energy in the energy balance (about 50%), Kyiv currently has no alternative to operating nuclear power plants and developing the industry.
It is logical that partners in projects for the development of peaceful nuclear energy for Ukraine were the Russian Rosatom (construction of two power units at the Khmelnitsky NPP) and TVEL (participant in a joint venture for the construction of a nuclear fuel production plant in the Kirovograd region). In addition, the TVEL concern has long been the only supplier of nuclear fuel to the Energoatom nuclear power plant.
The existing “status quo” obviously haunted the US State Department, whose interests extend far beyond the North American continent. Two years after the election of Viktor Yushchenko to the post of President of Ukraine in 2007, a contract was signed between Energoatom and the American-Japanese company Westinghouse for the supply of 42 fuel assemblies (FA).
As a result, the experience of their operation at the South Ukrainian NPP turned out to be unsuccessful. In April 2012, partial depressurization of assemblies occurred at the 3rd power unit of the South Ukrainian NPP. Energoatom's losses were estimated at more than $170 million.
Westinghouse, in its defense, stated that the cause of problems with the use of its fuel cells was the simultaneous use of Russian and American fuel in the reactor core.
In 2013, all Westinghouse fuel cassettes were completely removed from the second power unit of the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant, and the chief expert on nuclear safety of Ukraine, Mikhail Gashev, decided to ban the use and import of fresh Westinghouse fuel into the territory of Ukraine. The final decision on using Westinghouse assemblies was postponed to 2017. However, enterprising Americans took a different route. They invested in the Maidan.
Back in late June 2013, Westinghouse released a revealing statement thanking the US government for supporting its projects abroad. The document stated that Westinghouse “appreciated” the “efforts of a number of U.S. Government officials and agencies in assisting Westinghouse and other U.S. companies to continue to do business in the global nuclear energy market. “The support of the US government helps maintain decent conditions for American companies in global markets,” Westinghouse CEO Danny Roderick frankly admitted.
Already in June 2014, the “kamikaze” government under the leadership of Arseniy Yatsenyuk resumed cooperation under the previously frozen contract with Westinghouse. Immediately before this decision was made, the Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Authority Elena Mikolaichuk and the Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the State Nuclear Regulatory Authority Mikhail Gashev lost their posts.
The government prefers not to mention the problems with Westinghouse fuel in 2012, and the new head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Sergei Bozhko, states that American assemblies will be reloaded into Ukrainian reactors in January 2015.
They prefer not to talk about the cost of the contract with Westinghouse in Kyiv, although in private conversations sources in the Ukrainian government complain that assemblies competing with Russian ones will cost more. Their advantage is supposedly better economic efficiency due to the placement of a larger amount of enriched uranium. In 2013, Energoatom paid TVEL about $600 million for fuel supplies.
The limited capacity of the only Westinghouse plant that produces fuel for Soviet-style reactors will also be a problem. By 2020, the Americans guarantee supplies to only three reactors of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Ukrainian nuclear scientists will also have more trouble with the issue of nuclear fuel reprocessing. It is obvious that Russia, which currently takes spent fuel for reprocessing and stores nuclear waste, does not intend to perform this function for fuel from a foreign manufacturer. To solve this problem, Energoatom is negotiating with the French Areva on the reprocessing of spent fuel and plans to begin construction of a nuclear waste storage facility in the Chernobyl zone in 2015. The last project is planned to be implemented by the American Holtec International for EUR127,75 (in 2003 prices). In addition, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine actually buried a joint project with TVEL to build a plant for the production of Ukrainian nuclear fuel in Smolino. And the head of Energoatom, Yuri Nedashkovsky, announced his refusal to continue implementing the interstate agreement with Russia on the construction of units at the Khmelnytsky NPP. It is possible that all this was done to serve the interests of the same Westinghouse.
The political background of the processes to replace Russian partners with American ones in the Ukrainian nuclear industry is obvious. At the same time, the answer about the economic benefits of Energoatom hung in the air. As well as another priority: the safety of nuclear facilities must be ensured regardless of the interests of the governments of world powers and the interests of corporations. Chernobyl must not happen again.
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