Zelensky called on MPs to support the completion of the KhNPP, and they filed an application with the NABU
10 February 16:00
The situation around the project to complete the Khmelnytsky NPP has reached a new level of political confrontation. For more than a year now, some MPs (mostly from the Voice faction) have been criticizing the government’s initiative to develop Ukrainian nuclear energy in every possible way. At the same time, the Government and the Ministry of Energy assure of the need to complete the KhNPP, emphasizing that the implementation of this project will guarantee the energy independence of our country in the long term. This week, the parliament is to approve a law on the purchase of two nuclear reactors from Bulgaria for the KhNPP, which has maximized the degree of information confrontation in the national media, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Last week, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly supported the completion of new power units at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant and asked the Verkhovna Rada to vote on the necessary bills.
“The completion project is the key to Ukraine’s energy independence and the energy stability of the region, and it is important that the people’s deputies of Ukraine support this project,” Zelensky said.
This was preceded by a favorable assessment of the KhNPP completion project by the IAEA.
“Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine’s plans to complete KhNPP-3 and KhNPP-4 using equipment from the Bulgarian Belene NPP,” Energoatom informed.
Several deputies of the Voice faction, including Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Inna Sovsun, Anastasia Radina, and others, have been systematically opposing the completion of the KhNPP.
And today, on the eve of the Verkhovna Rada’s consideration of the relevant bills, Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced that, at his request, the NABU had opened proceedings against Energoatom.
This time, the politicians’ accusations are that Energoatom allegedly “embezzled more than UAH 430 million in the period 2024-2025, directing them, contrary to the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On the Procedure for Making Decisions on the Siting, Design, Construction of Nuclear Installations and Facilities for Radioactive Waste Management of National Importance” of 08.09.2005, No. 2861-IV, to perform work on the design and construction of power units at the Khmelnytsky NPP.”
The Verkhovna Rada immediately labeled this move by their colleagues from the Voice party as an attempt at political pressure.
Yuriy Kamelchuk, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities, in particular, commented to Kommersant Ukrainskyi 
“This is not the first time this group of MPs has made accusations against Energoatom. They have made accusations against Energoatom, the Ministry of Energy and the Minister in particular, without naming specific facts and without actually having any documentary evidence for these accusations.
Of course, we should use our controlling function to look for corruption risks and demand a detailed plan, or an audit, or a report on the activities of the Ministry or Energoatom, but some of those MPs have no relation to the Energy Committee or to energy in the past. I see this as political pressure on other factions to force them to agree on some things with the Voice faction in order to pass a vote in support of the Khmelnytskyi NPP completion project. In the long term, this faction does not express its vision and actually denies Ukraine’s need to develop its own energy independence, which is extremely necessary for us now, in the context of the war, and critical for the future economic recovery,” the MP said.
Two draft laws on KhNPP are currently under consideration in the Parliament:
- draft Law No. 11392 provides for the authorization to purchase reactors for the third and fourth VVER-1000 power units from Bulgaria. It should be adopted in the near future;
- draft Law No. 11146 on the siting, design and construction of the third and fourth power units. It will be considered after the feasibility study is updated.
Khmelnytskyi NPP is located on the border of three regions: Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, and Ternopil regions. Construction began in 1981, and it currently has two reactors. The first was launched in 1987, and the second in 2004. Both power units have VVER-1000 reactors with a total capacity of 2000 MW.
According to the project, the plant is supposed to be a four-unit power plant, but the third and fourth power units have been only partially built. “Energoatom plans to complete the construction of two VVER-1000 power units and build two more powerful power units using the American AP1000 technology, which will be able to produce up to 1200 MW. If these plans are realized, the total capacity of Khmelnytsky NPP will exceed 6,000 MW and it will become the largest in Europe.
Last year, Energoatom spent 58% of its net income on PSO payments.
