EU will not finance construction at Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant and calls for supervisory board to be set up for its owner company
On Tuesday, 17 December, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) plans to consider a draft bill on the construction of additional power units for the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), funded by Western donors. The parliament developed the bill without consultation with the EU, as Ukrainian authorities have the sovereign right to implement the project.
The bill in question is No. 11146, On the placement, design and construction of power units Nos. 3 and 4 for the Khmelnytskyi NPP, which was registered in April 2024.
The project has sparked much debate among the public and parliamentarians, but according to MPs, it will be top of the agenda at the Verkhovna Rada session on 17 December.
Speaking to European Pravda on Monday, Katarína Mathernová, EU Ambassador to Ukraine, stressed in a comment to European Pravda that EU entities have had no involvement in the drafting of this legislation.
"We were not involved in the preparation of this bill. However, whether or not Ukraine builds a nuclear power plant is totally up to the Ukrainian authorities," she stated.
Notably, the government plans to use donor funding to build the additional units at the nuclear power facility. Mathernová emphasised that the EU will not take part in this. "The European Union does not finance the development of nuclear power plants, including due to different opinions on nuclear power among Member States of the EU," she said.
At the same time, the ambassador stated that the EU has different expectations from Ukrainian authorities in terms of Energoatom's actions. [Energoatom is the Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power company which owns the Khmelnytskyi NPP – ed.] She highlighted the fact that Ukraine has voluntarily agreed to bring Energoatom’s supervisory board into compliance with OECD guidelines, which require the company to have an independent supervisory board.
"I want to emphasise that we are very interested in the formation of the supervisory board of Energoatom. As G7 we sent a letter to the Prime Minister about it last week," Mathernová added.
"The Board was selected in June, and now is time to complete the process, sign contracts and launch the supervisory board. Its view will be an important factor in the decisions on the financing of certain projects," she noted.
The bill on the construction of power units Nos. 3 and 4 for the Khmelnytskyi NPP has been put to a vote several times, but was subsequently taken off the agenda.
In July, the Verkhovna Rada’s anti-corruption department identified corruption risks in the bill.