Russia disputes criticism of its role in Ukrainian projects
Rosatom has rejected Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's claim that the Russian company failed to honour agreements on construction of a nuclear fuel fabrication facility and completion of units 3 and 4 at Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant.
Yatsenyuk announced on 8 July that the Ukrainian Cabinet is proposing parliament cancels the agreement with Russia on the completion of the two Khmelnitsky units. In addition, Ukraine's Energy and Coal Industry Minister Vladimir Demchishin said the agreement with Russia on the construction of a facility to produce nuclear fuel could also be terminated.
In a statement yesterday, Rosatom said it was surprised by the series of announcements in Ukrainian mass media on the status and prospects of implementation of the two Russian-Ukrainian projects. It added that Ukraine had not yet officially informed Russia that it wants to cancel the Khmelnitsky project and that considerable financial resources had been invested in the fuel plant project, with TVEL still "waiting for action from Ukraine for its continuation".
TVEL, Rosatom's fuel manufacturing subsidiary, had "strictly and fully" implemented all its obligations for the project to build the fuel plant and had "entirely and in a timely manner" complied with all its financial obligations, Rosatom said.
In November 2013, TVEL transferred $42 million to the account of Nuclear Fuel Plant in Ukraine - its joint venture with Ukraine's Nuclear Fuel State Concern – on the understanding its partner would invest the same amount by the end of that year.
In yesterday's statement, Rosatom stressed that TVEL had manufactured the equipment required for the first stage of the fuel facility project at its own expense, but had been unable to deliver the equipment because Ukraine had yet to pay for it. The equipment is being held in storage at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant. In addition, TVEL signed a licence agreement for the production of nuclear fuel in Ukraine and submitted the document to the Ukrainian authorities, which have yet to sign it, Rosatom said.
The Russian company stressed that it is "prepared to continue its cooperation with its Ukrainian counterparts" in the construction of the nuclear fuel plant as well as on the project to complete units 3 and 4 of the Khmelnitsky plant.
Khmelnitsky's long history
Construction of Khmelnitsky 3 began in September 1985, while that of unit 4 started in June 1986. Work on the two units stopped in 1990 when they were 75% and 28% complete, respectively. AtomStroyExport (ASE) - Russia's general contractor for the construction of nuclear power plants in other countries - won a tender in 2008 to construct two AES-92 plants with V-392B reactors at Khmelnitsky, similar to the two VVERs already operating on the site.
In June 2010, Russia and Ukraine signed an intergovernmental agreement on the resumption of work on the two partially built reactors. Then, in October that year, Russia's Sberbank said it was willing to lend Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator Energoatom $1 billion, with Ukraine meeting 15% of the cost of the project.
In February 2011, Energoatom and ASE signed a contract agreement for completion of the units. At that time, Khmelnitsky 3 was expected to be commissioned in 2016, with unit 4 starting up the following year. But two months later, Energoatom said it was not satisfied with the interest rate of the proposed Sberbank loan.
Last July, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers announced its support for the idea of building new reactors using technology "of Western design" and the following month, Energoatom President Yuri Nedashkovsky said Ukraine would not cooperate with Russia on construction of Khmelnitsky 3 and 4. Nedashkovsky also said Energoatom would prepare a plan for the units, including a strategy to export the electricity they generate to Europe. At a televised Cabinet meeting on 22 October, Yatsenyuk said the project will be implemented by Czech engineering company Škoda JS. Yatsenyuk said he had told Energoatom management to speed up construction of new nuclear reactors and to enlist the help of "European partners" rather than Russia. A few days later, Energoatom and Škoda JS signed a memorandum of cooperation.
On 9 December, Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine intended to complete construction of units 3 and 4 of the Khmelnitsky plant in 2018. He also noted the "significant expansion of cooperation" with US-based Westinghouse on the supply of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants as an alternative to fuel produced in Russia. A week later, Nedashkovsky said the country planned "to denounce" its intergovernmental agreement with Russia to build the reactors at Khmelnitsky. The legal framework focuses on cooperation with ASE, Nedashkovsky said at the time, "so a number of documents will require appropriate adjustments".
On 15 June, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers adopted a decree on the Ukraine-European Union "energy bridge" - a pilot project to transfer electricity from unit 2 of the Khmelnitsky plant to the European Union. Energoatom said that this project will not only fund the addition of two reactors, but will also "open up new prospects" for the country to export power to European markets. This approval had followed the signing in March of a memorandum of understanding on the project by Energoatom, Ukrenergo and Polenergia.
On 17 June, it was announced that ASE - now part of Rosatom's consolidated engineering subsidiary ASE-NIAEP-AEP - had closed down its office in Ukraine. On 23 June, Svetlana Kulchitskaya, deputy head of the atomic energy and nuclear industry department of the Ministry of Energy and Coal, announced that Ukraine is preparing the legal document required to cancel its 2010 intergovernmental agreement with Russia concerning the completion of the Khmelnitsky units.
Fuel independence
Site works started in 2012 at Ukraine's first domestically-owned central storage facility for used nuclear fuel and full construction was due to start in mid-2014. The first phase to 2015 was to set up capacity for fabrication of fuel rods and assemblies (using pellets from Ulba in Kazakhstan, 34% TVEL-owned) and the second phase to 2020 was to involve production of fuel pellets.
It was expected to start supplying fuel in 2016, and that it would cater for the fuel needs of all of Ukraine's nuclear power plants, while surplus products could be exported under separate arrangements with TVEL, mainly to Eastern Europe. But in July 2014, construction was delayed due to disagreement on terms and conditions of the contract, and Ukraine's government said Westinghouse or France's Areva might be called upon.
In August, TVEL said it was ready to supply the equipment for the plant as soon as contract disagreements and financing were resolved, and Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant said it had manufactured the process lines and was putting them into storage.
In January this year, Energoatom and the USA's Holtec International signed an amendment to their contract to build a central used fuel storage facility (CSFSF) at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the supply of used nuclear fuel dry cask storage systems. Ukraine presently exports almost half of its used nuclear fuel to Russia for technological storage with further reprocessing. Energoatom said the CSFSF would strengthen Ukraine's energy independence from foreign energy and services suppliers.
In March, Energoatom announced plans to increase its cooperation with Westinghouse that includes an expansion in the use of that company's nuclear fuel, a memorandum aimed at familiarising Energoatom personnel with the AP1000 reactor design, and Westinghouse's participation in a future fuel fabrication plant in Ukraine. Westinghouse president and CEO Danny Roderick said the company was willing to consider participation in the construction of the fuel fabrication plant.
TVEL and Westinghouse both bid to build the facility, and in September 2010 the Ministry of Fuels and Energy selected TVEL. Ukraine's Nuclear Fuel signed an agreement with TVEL for a 50% plus one share-50% minus one share joint venture to build a plant to manufacture VVER-1000 fuel assemblies. Work has started on the plant at Smolino, in the Kirovograd region of Ukraine. Once operational, it will produce some 400 fuel assemblies per year.
But Nedashkovsky said that TVEL had not yet met its obligations as the winner of the tender. He did not elaborate, but said that in such circumstances the tender conditions permitted consideration of the second candidate.
On 24 April, Areva announced it had for the first time signed a contract with Energoatom for the supply of enriched uranium to be used at Ukraine's nuclear power reactors. The first batches will be delivered this year.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
