Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stated that the IAEA would help Ukraine with the safety component of the project if the country decides to complete Khmelnytskyi NPP units 3 & 4.
“I believe it is obvious that something that we say normally about nuclear energy is reliability and the fact that it is dispatchable, the fact that it is always there – on a snowy day like today or in any conditions. It is important. We are, of course, aware of this project about Khmelnytskyi NPP units. As I learned today, in the case of the 3rd unit 80% of the construction is completed, and in the case of the 4th unit – 25%. So it is quite an effort, an investment that has already been done,” said the IAEA Director General.
He noted that important components need to be added to the projects that Ukraine plans to attract from the suspended construction of the Bulgarian Belene NPP. Rafael Grossi discussed this with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko and Head of Energoatom Petro Kotin during his visit to Kyiv.
“The Agency is ready, and we have already started some analytical work on specific areas where we could provide a safety assessment of this. This would be a very interesting project because we never had a situation when one construction is interrupted. I would say it is an efficient way to use what was already there to integrate into another construction site with a technology that is proven. Ukraine masters and knows what to deal with,” Grossi stressed.
