Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant
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The Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant generates
nuclear power in Ukraine Ukraine operates four nuclear power plants with 15 reactors located in Volhynia and South Ukraine. The total installed nuclear power capacity is over 13 GWe, ranking 7th in the world in 2020. Energoatom, a Ukrainian state enterprise, operates a ...
. The plant is operated by
Energoatom The Public JSC National nuclear energy generating company "Energoatom" () is the public enterprise operating all four Nuclear power in Ukraine, nuclear power plants in Ukraine (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne Nuclear Power ...
. Two
VVER The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from ) is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally developed in the Soviet Union, and now Russia, by OKB Gidropress. The idea of such a reactor was proposed at the Kurchatov Instit ...
-1000 reactors are operational, each generating 1000 MW (net) of electricity, with two
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
reactors under construction. Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant is connected to the
Rzeszów–Khmelnytskyi powerline The Rzeszów–Khmelnytskyi powerline is an Overhead power line, electrical power transmission line between Ukraine and Poland. It is the only 750 kV-powerline in Poland, and one of a few in the European Union. History The decision to build ...
, one of three 750 kV lines running between Ukraine and the European Union. On two occasions in November 2023, explosions were heard near the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant and its two Soviet-era reactors, which was assumed to be the result of near-misses by Russian missile attacks on or near the facility.


History

Construction of the first reactor started under the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in 1981 and the first unit was put in operation in late 1987. Construction of the second reactor started in 1983 with plans to finish it in 1991. In 1990, however, construction was stopped as part of a moratorium on new plant construction introduced due to public mistrust following the
Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...
. Construction was completed only in August 2004 after the moratorium was lifted. Since 1992, it has been guarded by the 3rd NPP Protection Battalion. Two more VVER-1000 reactors were under construction: construction of the third reactor started in September 1985 and the fourth reactor in June 1986. Construction was stopped in 1990 when they were 75% and 28% complete, respectively. An intergovernmental agreement on the resumption of construction was signed between Ukraine and Russia in June 2010. In February 2011, Energoatom and
Atomstroyexport Atomstroyexport (ASE) JSC () is the Russian Federation's nuclear power equipment and service exporter. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Rosatom. Organization Atomstroyexport, along with Atomenergoprom, is part of Rosatom's ''Engineering Divi ...
signed a contract agreement for the completion of reactors 3 and 4. They should have been commissioned in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Feasibility study of reactors 3 and 4 was conducted by Kyiv Institute Energoproekt. Following the Russian attack on Ukraine going on since February 2014 with varying intensity the Ukrainian government of
Arseniy Yatseniuk Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk (born 22 May 1974) is a Ukrainian politician, economist and lawyer who served two terms as Prime Minister of Ukraine – from 27 February 2014 to 27 November 2014 and from 27 November 2014 to 14 April 2016. He was t ...
formally terminated the agreement with Russia in September 2015. In August 2016 an agreement with
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP; ) is a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). It operates large nuclear and hydroelectric plants in South Korea, which are responsible for about 31.56 percent of the country's electric power ...
was made to assist with the completion of reactors 3 and 4, but little progress was made. In 2020 a Ukrainian working group assessed the safety of the old cranes on the site needed to progress construction work. Energoatom considered disconnecting unit 2 from the Ukrainian power grid and connecting it to the Burshtyn energy island centered around the coal powered Burshtyn TES, which up to 2022 was the only part of Ukraine connected to the European power grid, to facilitate exports to Poland and Hungary. In 2019 the Ministry of Energy created a consortium, Ukraine Power Bridge Company Limited, to progress the project, but as of 2020 the project was not agreed. In February 2025, Ukraine's
Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...
approved a plan to purchase unused VVER-1000 equipment from Bulgaria's cancelled
Belene Nuclear Power Plant The Belene Nuclear Power Plant () is an abandoned nuclear power plant 3 km from Belene and 11 km from Svishtov in Pleven Province, northern Bulgaria, on the right bank of the Danube River. It was intended to substitute four VVER-440 V23 ...
to complete units 3 and 4.


AP1000 reactors

In late November 2021, Energoatom and
Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...
agreed on a contract to construct the first Westinghouse
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
reactor in Ukraine at the Khmelnytskyi plant. In May 2022, Energoatom stated that the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
going on since February, and occupations of other power stations had not changed their ambitions to construct these units. They are still working with Westinghouse to construct two AP1000 reactors at the site. Employees from the Russia-occupied
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station (; ) in southeastern Ukraine is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world. It has been under Russian control since 2022. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city ...
will be hired to operate these new reactors.


See also

*
Nuclear power in Ukraine Ukraine operates four nuclear power plants with 15 reactors located in Volhynia and South Ukraine. The total installed nuclear power capacity is over 13 GWe, ranking 7th in the world in 2020. Energoatom, a Ukrainian state enterprise, operates a ...
* 3rd Nuclear Power Plant Protection Battalion (Ukraine) *
Energoatom The Public JSC National nuclear energy generating company "Energoatom" () is the public enterprise operating all four Nuclear power in Ukraine, nuclear power plants in Ukraine (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne Nuclear Power ...


References


External links

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History of KhNPP
{{Nuclear power in Ukraine Nuclear power stations in Ukraine Nuclear power stations built in the Soviet Union Nuclear power stations using pressurized water reactors Nuclear power stations using VVER reactors Energoatom