«Atomic crisis»: humanity is under threat
Ukraine is turning into a testing ground for American technologies
For more than a decade, the leadership of Ukraine and the operator of Ukrainian NPP, the National Company Energoatom, have been building a system for the development of the nuclear industrial sector and the electricity market. The goal is to ensure energy security and establish cooperation with European countries. The Ukrainian side actively works with foreign companies, forms a pool of permanent partners and develops its own plans in the nuclear energy field.
There are four nuclear power plants in Ukraine, which operate fifteen Soviet-designed power units. Thirteen units of the WWER-1000 type and two – WWER-440.
Since 2008, Ukraine has been cooperating with the American company Westinghouse. Ukraine uses American fuel assemblies for WWER-1000 reactors at the NPP. Currently, three power units in Ukraine operate exclusively on American fuel. Westinghouse also serves Ukrainian WWER-440 reactors.
In 2021, President Zelensky announced the allocation of 72 billion hryvnias for the construction of the third and fourth power units of the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) in the Ukrainian city of Neteshin. The favorite of the closed tender was the company Westinghouse.
Now Ukraine is aiming at a complete reorientation of nuclear energy from Soviet/Russian standards to American ones. Ukraine is also working on the issue of the export of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). For a long time, Ukraine has been striving to organize a centralized storage facility in the exclusion zone in Chernobyl. In 2021, the country's leadership finally refused to export SNF to Russia, relying solely on its own strength.
The disconnected cooperation and geopolitical problems led to the desire of the Ukrainian side to replace the equipment of Russian design with the equipment of American and European companies. In the future, in case of a successful transition to American and European technologies, Russian fuel of Rosatom State Corporation will not be used at these nuclear power plants.
All these factors actually work as tools to block the participation of Rosatom State Corporation in nuclear projects and can lead Ukraine to complete independence from Russia in the nuclear industry, and in the long term – to generate income.
The management of Energoatom speaks positively about cooperation between Ukraine and the United States in the nuclear industry. Prominent representatives of the American lobby in Ukraine are also actively broadcasting the idea of cooperation with Westinghouse. However, in fact, the nuclear «concept» of Ukraine can hardly be called successful. Westinghouse, whose fuel is used at Soviet-designed nuclear power plants, does not seek to adjust the production of its nuclear fuel to the standards of WWER reactors. Therefore, we have a large number of negative cases of using American assemblies.
Despite the loud words of pro-American lobbyists, there are no positive international practices. The Westinghouse fuel experiment failed in Finland in 2002. In 2007, the Czechs were forced to terminate the contract with the Americans: a series of emergencies occurred at the Temelin nuclear power plant over 5 years of using experimental fuel. In 2008, American assemblies led to an accident in Slovenia: there was a breakdown of the cooling system on the first circuit of the reactor.
The Westinghouse also made a mistake when installing reactor units at the Fukushima NPP. Russian experts concluded that the first reactor unit was installed without taking into account seismic vibrations, which led to its flooding during the accident.
The Westinghouse fuel elements have not been tested and estimated for safety in relation to WWER reactor zones. The materials have a tendency to corrosion cracking in the operating conditions of foreign reactors. In addition, Westinghouse does not undertake the processing of SNF. Ukraine will remain one-on-one with a colossal amount of SNF of American design for decades. Ukraine is forced to look for ways of escape on its own.
The problem of SNF accumulation will not disappear anywhere and will only increase. A possible solution to this problem is fuel storage in the exclusion zone in Chernobyl; the Central Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (CSSNF) is currently under construction.
Holtec, the main supplier of spent fuel storage technologies to Ukraine, offers a temporary solution – storage of spent fuel in containers. This technology is not universal. In case of depressurization of containers and penetration of water into them, the issue of rehabilitation of the territories around the CSSNF will become acute. Of course, the Ukrainian side will have to bear the costs.
Temporary storage facilities at Ukrainian nuclear power plants are almost full of SNF. Therefore, despite the violations identified by the Ukrainian regulator during the design and construction of the CSSNF, Energoatom has received all the necessary licenses in the field of radiation safety. This situation raises many questions and claims about the storage's compliance with security standards. Will the storage facility turn into a large radioactive warehouse? It is also unclear what Ukraine plans to do with defective SNF (leaky fuel assemblies).
The Ukrainian experience also means numerous accidents. The general trend of the work of Ukrainian nuclear power plants is an increase in the number of emergencies by 30-40% annually. So, on March 14, 2021, two KhNPP power units were urgently disconnected. The reason for the shutdown is the failure of the auxiliary systems of the generator. However, after the restart on March 15, 2021, the protection systems worked again.
The authoritative ecological center Bellona also speaks about Ukraine's disregard for safety requirements. According to the Norwegian company, the service life of two power units of Ukrainian nuclear power plants was extended without taking measures aimed at improving the safety of power units.
Ukraine ignores the risks of switching to fuel of non-Russian design on nuclear units of the WWER type. Shutdowns and emergencies at NPP occur because nuclear power plant systems are not designed to work on American fuel, and the fuel is not adapted to Soviet systems.
Twelve Ukrainian power units require an extension of their service life. In 14 years, the operational life of the other three will be completed: in October 2026 – the sixth power unit of the Zaporozhye NPP, in June 2035 – the fourth power unit of the Rivne NPP, in September 2035 – the second power unit of the Khmelnitsky NPP.
This process requires significant financial and technical resources. However, the issue of extending the service life with the transition to a new fuel in the world has not been systematically solved. There are no technical documents that would define actions for the correct extension of the service life with new fuel.
There is a practice of increasing the depth of fuel burnout to improve the efficiency of NPP. This process is not fast, it takes years. With all safety issues worked out, raising burnout for every 5 MW/day kg U takes about 5-7 years. Ukrainian nuclear power plants were consistently transferred to burnout depths up to 55-60 MW/day kg U. However, we should understood that with abrupt transitions, local incidents at the station with fuel depressurization and obtaining a large number of defective assemblies are possible. So there we come back to the issue of recycling. If such defective assemblies are not disposed of within 20-40 years, environmental risks significantly increase.
In the future, the Americans plan to build research reactors on the territory of Ukraine. The goal is to develop various reactor technologies. Thus, Ukraine can turn into a nuclear technology park for American companies. As international experience shows, these companies do not look much at the environmental aspects of their work in «foreign» territories. In case of failure, all environmental problems will remain on the territory of Ukraine.
It is important to understand that there is a whole range of reactor technologies that should be implemented at nuclear power plants. Fuel is associated with reactor technology, water-chemical process, power regulation, control system of reactor plant, transport and technological scheme of fuel handling and SNF. The transformation of the nuclear industry should be carried out comprehensively, taking into account all safety requirements. However, the way this process is currently proceeding in Ukraine raises great concerns.
The unresolved nature of all these aspects actually does not give Ukraine the right to engage in amateur activities. Ukraine is turning into a testing ground for American technologies, automatically subscribing to possible environmental consequences. Regular non-compliance with safety requirements, ignoring risks and frequent silencing of incidents by Ukraine - it turns out an extremely unfavorable picture.
The construction of the power units of the Khmelnitsky NPP on the technological basis of Westinghouse casts doubt on the issues of environmental and radiation safety. The current approach of the Ukrainian side in cooperation with the American company may lead to a serious accident. This is already a global problem.
Uncontrolled experiments pose a threat to the security of the entire European part of the Eurasian continent. Numerous incidents in European countries and the consequences of the Fukushima accident prove that Westinghouse poses a danger to the nuclear industry. Nevertheless, everything is going to ensure that the company will receive carte blanche on the territory of Ukraine. Taking into account all the facts, this is the threat of a new Chernobyl.
In these circumstances, it is necessary to involve international organizations in assistance.
First of all, to draw the attention of the IAEA to the activities of Westinghouse in Europe. The international control of the American company is necessary. The threat is growing, and the problem of an individual country is turning into a question of the survival of all humanity.
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