Ukraine must increase its nuclear power capacity to 25 GW by 2050 – Shmyhal

Ukraine expects to have 25 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2050, announced First Deputy Prime Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal.

"Our ambition is 25 GW of nominal nuclear generation capacity by 2050. On the agenda is the completion of Units 3 and 4 at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant. In the future, we plan to build Units 5 and 6 at the KhNPP," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram on Thursday following a meeting with the Supervisory Board of NNEGC Energoatom, headed by Rumina Velshi.

He identified one of the company's key objectives as increasing nuclear generation capacity, which, he said, will form the basis of Ukraine's new energy architecture.

According to the head of the Ministry of Energy, Ukraine has significant potential in the nuclear industry to build a vertically integrated system, starting with uranium concentrate mining and establishing a nuclear fuel production process, and ending with the storage of spent nuclear fuel.

"All stages of this process can be implemented in Ukraine. A key step along this path is the corporatization of SkhidGOK and its merger with Energoatom. We have already submitted the corresponding bill to the Verkhovna Rada," Shmyhal emphasized.

According to him, the company's priorities include completing an audit of its activities in previous periods and increasing the transparency of management processes.

As reported, following Russia's occupation of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, the 6 GW Zaporizhia plant, Ukraine now operates three plants: Pivdennoukrainska, Khmelnytsky, and Rivne. Their combined capacity is approximately 7.8 GW.