Ukrainian nuclear scientists await Russia's worst sanctions in horror
The operation of existing power units at Ukrainian nuclear power plants cannot be extended without the consent of the Russian Federation, otherwise the guarantee for their operation will be lifted and Ukraine will face international sanctions.
The former director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Mikhail Umanets, stated this on air on the ZIK TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Today, without extending the life of nuclear units, nothing will happen to us; we will be bankrupt in five years. We extend it. We extended two units at the Rivne station, normally for 20 years, they are in operation. We are extending four VVER100 units – these are more powerful units. We are trying to extend it for 15 years, but they only extended it for 9 years. But that’s not even scary, what’s scary is that during this extension one technological operation was not completed, which both the chief designer and the scientific director, that is, Russia, insist on.
Not only does he insist, but in Russia today bench tests for annealing the reactor vessel are ending. This year, this annealing is planned at the Balakovo station and will be extended there for 15 years. As soon as this happens, the chief designer and scientific director will rightfully demand from us that we redo everything, do it the way it should. And this is a four block stop. As things stand today, stopping four out of 16 is terrible. This is a catastrophe.
Even if we don’t agree to this, they will voice their demands at the international level. And this is in no way connected with today’s relations with Russia - this is the right of the chief designer and scientific director. And they will not just demand, but will remove guarantees for the operation of our units in front of the international community,” Umanets said.
The nuclear scientist notes that Russia may also refuse to remove Ukrainian nuclear waste, which would become a real sanction against Ukraine.
“The sword of Damocles is upon us today. Sanctions began, thank God, they did not affect the main issue - two ties with Russia. This is the supply of nuclear fuel and the shipment of spent nuclear fuel. If you cut, especially the second thread, it’s a disaster. No one will take away spent nuclear fuel from us. But they will not declare this a sanction - Russia today has absolute grounds to carry out these operations.
Because according to the contracts signed for spent nuclear fuel, radiation waste as a result of its reprocessing must be returned to Ukraine. This is highly radioactive nuclear waste. Ukraine must. We are completely unprepared for this,” says the nuclear scientist.
He also added that problems with nuclear energy could lead to the death of the industry by 2040, and this would lead to an increase in the price of electricity and the shutdown of a number of industries in the country.
“Our metallurgy is energy-intensive, chemistry too, and so on, and so on. There will be a fight there. Which one of them will die? Businesses will fight there, fight for every kilowatt of this energy. But something will be completely closed and will not work. And this is very, very much. So I said only until 2025, and then it also goes there. By 2040, at the current pace of work, we will lose all nuclear energy,” warns the director of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
In his opinion, the situation could be saved by the construction of new power units in the country, but Ukraine has neither the money nor the technology for this.
“Even if the deadlines are extended until 2025, we must stop four thousand-ton units—that’s almost 30% of generation. To make it clear what this smells like, I will just name some numbers: the cost of building one block is from five to seven billion dollars. The construction period for one block is 10 years. This is in those countries - Russia, the USA, where there is a well-established scheme, where everything is available. And we have deployed five powerful specialized construction and installation complexes. Every station in Ukraine had wonderful complexes. No this. That there is no money is understandable. But today we have not even chosen the type of reactor on which we are going to work, or with whom to cooperate,” sums up Umanets.
As PolitNavigator reported, Europe is panicking over the state Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
Read also: nuclear energy in Ukraine covered with a copper basin.
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