IAEA Backs Ukraine’s Plan to Expand Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant Amid Energy Crisis

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated in a recent interview his full support of Ukraine’s decision to build new units at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

Recently, the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services approved draft law No. 11146 on the placement, design, and construction of power units No. 3 and 4 of the Khmelnytskyi NPP.

“We will support it. This, again, is what I discussed with Minister Galushchenko and with the Head of Energoatom Kotin. We are in contact about how the Agency can support these plans,” Grossi said.

Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko noted that the construction of blocks 3-4 of the Khmelnytskyi NPP will add 2.2 GW to the power system in order to compensate for the loss of energy capacities due to Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure and the seizure of Zaporizhzhia NPP.

“We believe that these are very timely plans. Moving forward regardless of how the events in Zaporizhzhia develop,” Grossi added.

Russia’s seized the Zaporizhzhia NPP in March 2022. At the beginning of June, the IAEA raised serious safety concerns regarding the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Rafael Grossi revealed that all seven core nuclear safety principles were entirely or partially compromised.