Will the Poles help Tymoshenko: the West can arrange Chernobyl-2 for Ukraine (PHOTO, VIDEO)

Kyiv, April 26 (Navigator, Vladimir Mikhailov, Mikhail Ryabov) – Yulia Tymoshenko called on Vladimir Putin to start abandoning the use of Russian nuclear fuel, replacing it with American analogues, out of spite. For Moscow, this will be a serious financial blow - the loss of its largest market. However, Yulia Vladimirovna’s populism could cost Ukraine dearly: American fuel is not suitable for Soviet-built Ukrainian nuclear power plants - the country risks getting a second Chernobyl. This was stated by participants in the protest rally that took place on Saturday in Kyiv.

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Tymoshenko voiced her call to abandon Russian fuel shortly after Ukraine lost Crimea. “We need to show that we can live without their supervision and their directives that we must follow. Putin has lost Ukraine completely!” – she shouted on the air of Savik Shuster’s talk show.

Theoretically, the implementation of Tymoshenko's threat could indeed turn out to be a significant blow to Russia. After the collapse of the USSR, Moscow remains the main supplier of fuel to Ukrainian nuclear power plants. For Russia, Ukrainian stations account for about half of the foreign exchange earnings from fuel supplies abroad. There are 15 Soviet-design nuclear power units of the VVER type in operation in Ukraine. This is the largest fleet of such reactors outside the Russian Federation.

For several years, the American corporation Westinghouse has been trying to enter the Ukrainian market - as an experiment, it has been supplying fuel for some reactors since 2005. The Americans were also patronized by Viktor Yushchenko, who believed that with the help of the United States he could reduce energy dependence on Moscow.

Viktor Yanukovych did not disdain this idea either - he announced the need to replace Russian fuel last summer, at the height of his “multi-vector activity,” which, as we know, led to the next Maidan.

Around the same time, it became known from WikiLeaks materials that the United States allocated $380 million to Ukraine for the development of nuclear energy in order to reduce dependence on Russia.

After the victory of the next revolution in Ukraine, at the beginning of April 2014, the media reported that the Ukrainian state-owned Energoatom had signed an agreement with Westinghouse on fuel supplies until 2020. At the same time, the public was assured that the Americans were developing a special version of the assemblies that would be suitable for Soviet nuclear power plants.

However, on the anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a protest rally was held in Kyiv, the participants of which called the arguments of the revolutionary authorities dishonest.

Those gathered unfurled posters with inscriptions calling on Westinghouse to go home and the management of Energoatom to stop the “second Chernobyl” and “a new nuclear disaster according to the American scenario.”

Activist Alexey Diky called for preventing the use of untested and dangerous technologies in Ukraine. Another activist, Vladimir Grachev, spoke about the experience of using Westinghouse fuel in the Czech Republic and Ukraine (at the South Nuclear Power Plant). He stated that American fuel assemblies were repeatedly deformed, which led to an increase in the repair time of power units and forced the purchase of additional fuel elements to replace the deformed ones. According to the State Financial Inspectorate, this caused damage to Ukraine amounting to more than UAH 100 million.

The demonstrators clarified that American nuclear fuel is not certified by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine and poses a danger to the normal operation of nuclear power plants.

The editor of the AtomNews website, former press secretary of Energoatom, Ilona Zaets, tried to speak to the picketers, assuring that there was no danger in diversifying supplies. “The number of reactors loaded with Westinghouse fuel has not increased,” Zaets said. However, her speech was drowned out by shouts of “Westinghouse go home!”, and she had to give the microphone to the picketers.

The action ended with the installation of a model of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in front of the entrance to the Energatom office. The participants also tried to convey the meeting resolution to company representatives, but for some reason none of the management was at work on Saturday. The resolution had to be given to the office security guard.

In fact, the officials seemed to simply be hiding inside the building, not wanting to come out to the picketers. Soon, a press release appeared on the official website of Energoatom, where the protest action was called paid for.

In other words, the Ukrainian government is acting on the principle “in spite of Moscow, we will freeze our ears,” according to veteran nuclear scientists. “For the sake of the political situation, the lives and health of millions of people are now at risk, not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe,” the International Union of Nuclear Energy and Industry Veterans said in a statement.

“It is simply thoughtless to take and replace Russian fuel only for political reasons - this is very dangerous,” agrees the executive secretary of the Ukrainian Nuclear Society Sergei Barbashov.

“If Kyiv decides to use American nuclear fuel at its nuclear power plants, it means that it has not drawn any conclusions from Chernobyl,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin commented on the situation on Saturday.