Energoatom director confirms EBRD money will support nuclear lifespan expansion

Kiev -- The “Ukrainian NPP Safety Upgrade Package Program” (1) currently under consideration for financing by the EBRD, will enable the lifespan expansion of old Soviet-time nuclear reactors, confirmed Gennady Sazonov, project and investment director of the production company Atomproektinzhynirynh (2), speaking during the first public consultations on the draft ecological assessment of the Program that was held in Kiev early this week.

Previously, the connection between the EBRD Program and nuclear lifespan expansion had been minimized or even denied by both project sponsor NEC Energoatom and the EBRD. In official correspondence to NECU (), the EBRD declared that they would not support any measures for reactor life time extension.

In 2010, The Ukrainian government prolonged the lifetime of Rivne Unit 1 for another 20 years (after 30 years of operation) and this year Rivne Unit 2 is planned to be extended as well.

"From an economic point of view, the extension of old reactors is inadvisable, as existing nuclear units in Ukraine are used only at 72 percent of their capacity,” says Iryna Holovko, Bankwatch national coordinator for Ukraine. "From the point of view of nuclear safety, the operation of outdated reactors amplifies the risk of severe accidents and, by increasing the quantity of spent nuclear fuel to be produced, aggravates this problem that Ukraine is already struggling with to catastrophic levels. The safest way is to gradually close and decommission those reactors whose lifetime ended and this is where the EBRD’s involvement would bring much more value.”

For more information please contact:

Iryna Holovko
National Ecological Center of Ukraine (NECU)/
CEE Bankwatch Network
Tel. +38044 3537842
iryna AT bankwatch.org

Notes for editors:

1. The “Ukrainian NPP Safety Upgrade Package Program” has been launched by the EBRD in 2010. The total cost of the Program is EUR 1,8 billion, out of which the EBRD and Euroatom have been asked to cover up to EUR 800 million. Financing is to be provided to Energoatom in the form of a loan under state guarantee.

2. Atomproektinzhynirynh is a separate unit of Ukraine’s state energy company Energoatom.

3. For more information, go to: