Latest news with #Energoatom
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Small modular reactors may be deployed in Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
Land plots in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone may be allocated for the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs). Source: Hryhorii Ishchenko, Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine Quote: "We are also ready to allocate land for the placement of small modular reactors for Energoatom (Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power company)." Details: Ishchenko added that an agreement or memorandum to launch the project is expected to be signed soon. "This is part of a programme that, I hope, will be implemented in Ukraine," he said. As previously reported, Energoatom and Ukrenergo, Ukraine's state-owned electricity transmission operator, have identified 12 potential sites across Ukraine for hosting SMRs. Ukraine views the development of SMR technology as a key element of its post-war recovery, contributing to energy security and the decarbonisation of its economy. Background: The reconstruction of the protective shelter over Unit No 4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant – damaged by a Russian attack on 14 February – may cost more than €100 million. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russians illegally detain 13 workers of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
Energoatom, Ukraine's state-owned nuclear energy operator, has reported that the Russians are holding at least 13 employees of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant hostage. Source: Energoatom on Telegram Details: It is noted that since the beginning of the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), which is also Europe's largest power plant, Russia has begun unprecedented pressure on nuclear workers who refused to switch sides and sign worthless contracts with Rosatom, Russia's state-run nuclear power company. About 5,000 specialists were able to leave the temporarily occupied city of Enerhodar where the ZNPP is located, and Energoatom is taking care of their employment in other divisions of the company. However, at least 13 ZNPP employees are known to have been deprived of their freedom by the Russians in the temporarily occupied territory. Seven of them have been "sentenced" to imprisonment, and three are still in prison awaiting fake verdicts. The fate of three more remains unknown – they are considered missing. In addition, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia tortured to death ZNPP diver Andrii Honcharuk. The Russians continue to use the ZNPP as a military base. Military vehicles are parked in the machine halls of the power units, and explosive weapons are stored there. Energoatom emphasised that the plant's equipment was deteriorating, and there could be no question of a safe restart of the ZNPP. Quote: "All illegally detained nuclear workers must be immediately released from Russian captivity. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant must immediately be transferred to the control of its legal operator, Energoatom, and Russia must withdraw its military personnel and military equipment from the plant. This is the only way to restore nuclear and radiation safety across the entire continent!" Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine shuts down three out of nine nuclear power units for maintenance, says IAEA
Three out of the nine reactors at Ukrainian-controlled nuclear power plants (NPPs) are undergoing scheduled maintenance and refuelling. Source: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Details: IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi noted that maintenance and fresh fuel loading are being carried out at the Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and Pivdennoukrainsk NPPs. This work is being carried out under the persistent threat of Russian attacks. For instance, on 25 April, the IAEA team stationed at the Pivdennoukrainsk NPP reported that six drones had been spotted just 1.5 km from the facility, with Ukrainian air defence working to shoot them down. Meanwhile, the IAEA team at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP heard distant explosions throughout the past week, while the team at the Khmelnytskyi NPP was forced to take cover during an air raid on 30 April. Grossi also noted that a Russian drone strike pierced the roof of a major containment structure at the Chornobyl NPP on 14 February. The structure was designed to prevent any release of radiation from the reactor destroyed in the 1986 disaster and to shield it from external threats. He added that temporary repairs to the New Safe Confinement at the Chornobyl plant are underway. An IAEA team recently visited the site to discuss ongoing efforts to assess the building's structural integrity following the attack. Despite the significant damage to the shelter, he confirmed that no radioactive release had occurred. Earlier, Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear energy regulator, reported that repairs at all nine power units of Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and Pivdennoukrainsk NPPs were to be completed by the end of August. The total capacity of the nine power units is 7.88 GW. Six units with a capacity of 6,000 MW at Zaporizhzhia NPP have not been generating electricity since 11 September 2022. Background: Earlier, it was reported that Energoatom's net profit for 2024 reached UAH 1.3 billion (approximately US$31.2 million). The company plans to use these funds to offset losses from previous years – for instance, it recorded a loss of UAH 11 billion (around US$264.6 million) in 2023 – and no dividends are being paid. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The Guardian
01-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Ukraine war live: ‘historic' minerals deal signals long-term commitment to a free Ukraine, US says
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Ukraine, which has signed a deal to share revenues from the future sale of minerals and rare earths with the US after months of fraught negotiations. The agreement 'signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,' US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in announcing it. 'To be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine,' he added. Ukraine's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said on national television that the agreement, which must be ratified by Ukraine's parliament, was 'good, equal and beneficial'. In a post on social media he said the two countries would establish a reconstruction investment fund with each side having 50% voting rights and made clear that Kyiv would not be asked to pay back any 'debt' for US aid during the war. The deal had been a source of great friction between the US and Ukraine, including a disastrous February meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, shouted at the Ukrainian leader in front of live TV cameras. Ahead of the meeting Zelenskyy had alleged the US was pressuring him to sign over more than $500bn (£395bn) in mineral wealth – about four times what the US has contributed to Kyiv since the start of the war and which Zelenskyy had said would take 10 generations of Ukrainians to pay back. Here's a roundup of key developments: Ukraine's first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who was in Washington to sign the fund, said that Ukraine would retain full ownership of resources 'on our territory and in territorial waters belong to Ukraine.' There would be no changes to ownership of state-owned companies, she said and income would come from new licences for critical materials and oil and gas projects, not from projects which had already begun. There would be no changes to ownership of state-owned companies, she said, 'they will continue to belong to Ukraine' . That included companies like Ukrnafta, Ukraine's largest oil producer, and nuclear energy producer Energoatom. Income would come from new licences for critical materials and oil and gas projects, not from projects which had already begun, Svyrydenko said. Income and contributions to the fund would not be taxed in the US or Ukraine, she said, 'to make investments yield the greatest results'. Ukraine's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said in a post on social media tht the agreement was based on five key principles, including equal voting ights bewteen the parties and no debt obligations for Ukraine. He also said the fund would not be an obstacle to Ukraine's EU accession talks. It was unclear up until the last moment whether the US and Ukraine would manage to sign the deal. Washington reportedly pressured Ukraine to sign additional agreements, including on the structure of the investment fund, or to 'go back home'. Bessent later said the US was ready to sign though Ukraine had made some last-minute changes. Share
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The Independent
07-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Macron warns strong action needed if Putin continues to ‘buy time and refuse peace'
Two days after a Russian ballistic missile killed 20 people in Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky 's home town, Emmanuel Macron has called for strong action if Russia continues to 'refuse peace'. The French president wrote on X on Sunday: 'My thoughts are with the children and all civilian victims of the bloody attacks carried out by Russia, including on 4 April in Kryvyi Rih. 'A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace.' President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to amp up pressure on Russia after it launched its latest deadly air raid on Kyiv. As one person died in Kyiv, and three were injured, Ukraine 's leader said that 'pressure on Russia is still insufficient, and the daily Russian strikes on Ukraine prove it'. He said Kyiv wasn't the only region which suffered strikes, as the Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy regions were also hit. 'The number of air attacks is increasing. This is how Russia reveals its true intentions – to continue the terror for as long as the world allows it' he said. Restarting Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant would be 'unsafe', Ukraine's nuclear energy chief warns Restarting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — currently occupied by Russia — would be unsafe and extremely difficult under wartime conditions, according to Ukraine's nuclear energy chief, Petro Kotin. He warned that restarting even one reactor during the war is 'impossible' due to a lack of cooling water, personnel, and power. If Ukraine regains control, it could take two months to two years to safely bring the plant back online after full demilitarisation and safety checks, the chief executive of Energoatom said, according to The Guardian. Russia has said it intends to restart the plant when conditions allow, but experts have raised serious safety concerns, especially given the degraded infrastructure, risk of mines, and untrained staff. In February this year, Alexey Likhachev, head of Russian nuclear operator Rosatom, said it would be restarted when 'military and political conditions allow'. Maroosha Muzaffar7 April 2025 04:30 Macron urges 'strong action' against Russia if it continues to 'refuse peace' Days after a Russian ballistic missile killed 20 people in Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky's home town, French president Emmanuel Macron called for 'strong action' if Russia continued to 'refuse peace'. He wrote on X on Sunday: 'My thoughts are with the children and all civilian victims of the bloody attacks carried out by Russia, including on 4 April in Kryvyi Rih. 'A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace.' Mr Macron said that although Ukraine accepted US president Donald Trump's proposal for a full ceasefire, and European nations were also working to broker peace, 'Russia is continuing the war with renewed intensity, with no regard for civilians'. Maroosha Muzaffar7 April 2025 04:15 Why did Russia escape Trump's tariffs? Why did Russia escape Trump's tariffs? The U.S. already imposes heavy sanctions on Russia but still did approximately $3.5 billion in trade last year Bryony Gooch7 April 2025 04:03 Russian court reduces sentence of US soldier A Russian court in Vladivostok has slightly reduced the prison sentence of US soldier Gordon Black, who was jailed last year for stealing $113 (10,000 rubles) from his girlfriend and threatening to kill her, Russian state news agencies reported on Monday. According to RIA and TASS, which cited court proceedings, the court lowered Mr Black's sentence from three years and nine months to three years and two months. Maroosha Muzaffar7 April 2025 03:48 In pictures: An ilmenite open pit mine in a canyon in the central region of Kirovohrad, Ukraine, Bryony Gooch7 April 2025 03:02 Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release When she heard her front door open almost two years ago, Kostiantyn Zinovkin's mother thought her son had returned home because he forgot something. Instead, men in balaclavas burst into the apartment in Melitopol, a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces. They said Zinovkin was detained for a minor infraction and would be released soon. They used his key to enter, said his wife, Liusiena, and searched the flat so thoroughly that they tore it apart 'into molecules.' Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release In its 3-year-old war, Russia has detained what human rights activists say are thousands of Ukrainian civilians and has charged them with various crimes Bryony Gooch7 April 2025 02:02 How Ukraine's 2.5-bn-year-old rock deposit became central to helping stop Russia Ukraine 's minerals have become central to global geopolitics, with the US president, Donald Trump, seeking a deal with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to access them. But what are these minerals exactly and why are they so sought after? Munira Raji reports How a 2.5bn-year-old rock deposit became central to helping stop Russia's invasion The minerals have become central to global politics. Munira Raji reports Bryony Gooch7 April 2025 01:03 'We can't sit back and watch': Former MI6 boss says Britain must get ready for war as Putin threatens Europe Britain needs to rearm and build reserves through a form of national service to defend against Vladimir Putin's hopes of dominating eastern Europe and undermining the West, the former head of MI6 has warned. Sir Alex Younger said people in the UK must realise that the threat from Russia – and its closeness to the US – is real, adding: ' Putin and Trump together have done their best to persuade us that the rules have changed.' Sam Kiley reports: Former MI6 boss says Britain must get ready for war as Putin threatens Europe Exclusive: As a Russia-Ukrainian ceasefire looks no closer, Sir Alex Younger tells The Independent how the UK is too detached from the threat posed by Putin – and that our 'collective effort' needs to change Bryony Gooch7 April 2025 00:00 Poland scrambles aircraft after Russian strikes on Ukraine Polish and allied aircraft were activated early on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched air strikes targeting western Ukraine, the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said. "The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the regions bordering the areas at risk," the Command said on X. All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts as of 2am GMT today after the Ukrainian Air Force warned of Russian missile attacks. Bryony Gooch6 April 2025 23:04 In pictures: A school in Sumy was forced to move to the basement The Bobryk school was forced to move to the basement due to endless alarms. Teachers had to divide the classes into two shifts and also hold lessons on Saturdays. Bryony Gooch6 April 2025 22:03
