The Ukrainian parliament approved legislation enabling Energoatom to purchase Russian-made reactors from Bulgaria for the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP), MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak from the Holos party said.
The decision came after the Ukrainian energy committee approved this controversial plan to purchase two Russian-made nuclear reactors from Bulgaria. Concerns arose over costs, safety, and corruption risks.
“The updated draft law, which will launch the completion of two KhNPP units, has resolved all concerns and contradictions that MPs had regarding the first version,” Zheleznyak said.
The law, with 269 votes in favor, permits the state nuclear operator Energoatom to acquire reactors from Bulgaria’s NEK EAD for units 3 and 4 at KhNPP.
The Ukrainian law does not specify the contract value. However, the experts suggest it could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Bulgarian parliament previously authorized negotiations for equipment sales at a minimum of 600 million euros ($620 million).
The Ukriane’s parliamentary energy committee approved amendments to bill №11392 on 16 January. These amendments allowed Energoatom to purchase the Bulgarian reactors.
The legislation must still be signed by the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who recently urged MPs to support the KhNPP completion.
Russian Rosatom won an international tender in 2006 to build two VVER-1000 reactors for Bulgaria’s Belene plant. Bulgaria froze the project three years later and fully abandoned it in 2012.
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