On Thursday 23 July, NNEGC Energoatom received €100 million from the European Nuclear Energy Community for the implementation of the Comprehensive (Consolidated) Safety Improvement Program (CSPP) for Ukrainian NPPs, approved by the government in 2011. This is the third tranche under the loan agreement concluded with Euratom in 2013 and ratified by the Verkhovna Rada in May 2014.
Five years ago a €300 million euro loan agreement for the implementation of this Comprehensive Programme entered into force at the end of May 2015. Taking into account the agreement with the second creditor of the SUP – the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – which entered into force in December 2014, the total loan amounted to €600 million, making it the largest loan in the history of Ukrainian energy from European institutions.
For Energoatom, a Comprehensive (consolidated) programme to increase the level of safety of NPP units is a priority. It was developed by Energoatom taking into account the stress tests conducted at Ukrainian NPPs following the accident at the Japanese Fukushima station (“post-Fukushima measures”), and sets the scope of measures to be implemented at all power units of domestic NPPs to bring their safety to international standards.
The costs of the Programme are covered by the tariff, i.e. the funds that NNEGC Energoatom receives from the sale of electricity produced by nuclear power plants and loans provided by the EBRD and Euratom.
Euratom and the EBRD have set strict conditions for Ukraine, without which the loan agreements would not have entered into force. One of the most important of these is to ensure the independence of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine (SNRCU). Ukraine fulfilled this requirement when at the end of May 2020 the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law №2372 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Safety of Nuclear Energy Use”. As a result, Ukraine regained the status of a state responsible for nuclear safety, and NNEGC Energoatom was given the opportunity to continue using the Euratom loan.
