Nuclear power in Ukraine

Ukrainian coin commemorating nuclear power

In 2007, nuclear power supplied 47.5% of Ukraine's electricity production of 195 billion kWh. The total installed capacity of nuclear reactors in Ukraine is over 13 GWe.^[1]

Ukraine is one of Europe’s largest energy consumers, it consumes almost double the energy of Germany, per unit of GDP.^[2] A great share of energy supply in Ukraine comes from nuclear power, with the country receiving most of its nuclear fuel from Russia. Oil and natural gas provide the remainder of the country's energy; these are also imported from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine is heavily dependent on its nuclear energy. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located in Ukraine. In 2006, the government planned to build 11 new reactors by the year 2030, in effect, almost doubling the current amount of nuclear power capacity.^[3] Ukraine's power sector is the twelfth-largest in the world in terms of installed capacity, with 54 gigawatts (GW).^[2] Renewable energy still plays a very modest role in electrical output; in 2005 energy production was met by the following sources: nuclear (47 percent), thermal (45 percent), hydroelectric and other (8 percent).^[3]

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western USSR and Europe. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster).^[4] The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles, crippling the Soviet economy.^[5]

Reactors

Main article: List of power stations in Ukraine

 Khmelnitskiy

Rivne    

South Ukraine

Chernobyl

 Zaporizhzhia

Nuclear power plants in Ukraine (view)
 Active plants
 Closed plants

All of Ukraine's RBMK reactors (the type involved in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster) were located at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. All of the reactors there have been shut down, leaving only the much safer VVER reactors operating in the country. Three of the reactors listed were built in post-independence Ukraine, with the first one of these being constructed in 1995; the other sixteen reactors the country inherited from the Soviet Union.

Name	Location	Type	Capacity, MWe	Operational	Notes
Chernobyl NPP	Chernobyl	RBMK	1000	1977-1996
		RBMK	1000	1978-1991
		RBMK	1000	1981-2000
		RBMK	1000	1984-1986	exploded in the Chernobyl accident
Khmelnytsky	Netishyn	VVER	1000	1987-
		VVER	1000	2004-
Rivne	Kuznetsovsk	VVER	402	1980-
		VVER	417	1981-
		VVER	1000	1986-
		VVER	1000	2004-
South Ukraine	Yuzhnoukrainsk	VVER	1000	1982-
		VVER	1000	1985-
		VVER	1000	1989-
Zaporizhzhia	Enerhodar	VVER	1000	1984-	largest nuclear power plant of Europe
		VVER	1000	1985-
		VVER	1000	1986-
		VVER	1000	1987-
		VVER	1000	1989-
		VVER	1000	1995-
Total	Ukraine	VVER	13819	1981 (1978)-

See also

• Energoatom (Ukraine)
• Nuclear energy policy
• List of Chernobyl-related articles

References

1. ^ "Nuclear Power in Ukraine". http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=380. Retrieved 2009-01-12. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Ukraine". Energy Information Administration (EIA). US government. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Ukraine/Full.html. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Nuclear Power in Ukraine". World Nuclear Association. http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf46.html. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
4. ^ Black, Richard (2011-04-12). "''Fukushima: As Bad as Chernobyl?''". Bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13048916. Retrieved 2011-08-20. 
5. ^ From interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, Hans Blix and Vassili Nesterenko. The Battle of Chernobyl. Discovery Channel.  Relevant video locations: 31:00, 1:10:00.

External links

• World-nuclear.org