It is reported that Ukraine is building two reactors at Khmelnytskyi nuclear power station (KNPP) designed by the US using American fuel and technology at the facility donning Ukrainian and US flags.

The project aims to enhance Ukraine's energy security and reduce reliance on Russian nuclear technology. The United States' Exim Bank is said to be partly financing it.

The opening ceremony hosted Ukraine's state nuclear operator, Energoatom, Petro Kotin; Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko; US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and the CEO of US nuclear energy company Westinghouse, Patrick Fragman.

The ceremony launched hours after a Russian strike on a power plant outside Kiev.

Galushchenko said, "This is our answer to the terrorists, this is our answer to the invaders," adding: "Today we are talking about the future, we are talking about stability, we are talking about the development of nuclear energy," as he called Khmelnytskyi Ukraine's most crucial modernization project since World War II.

'Europe's largest NPP'

Two reactors are already functioning at the KNPP, with its reactors 3 and 4 partially built on a Soviet design, and reactors 5 and 6 are currently in the making with Westinghouse's AP1000 technology.

Each unit will have a capacity of over 1,100 megawatts which Fragman says will be "the most advanced nuclear reactor operating today in the world".

Energoatom chief Petro Kotin claims the KNPP will become Europe's largest plant, surpassing Zaporozhye.

Energoatom announced that constructing one reactor unit in peacetime will consume five years and the estimated cost is around $5 billion. Meanwhile, the first unit will begin on an "accelerated schedule", per Fragman. 

News of the construction was first released in January when Reuters revealed that Ukraine expects to construct four new nuclear power reactors in the upcoming summer or autumn, as the country aims to offset the loss of energy capacity resulting from the war in Ukraine. 

Among these units, two will be based on Russian-made equipment, which Ukraine intends to import from Bulgaria, while the other two will utilize Western technology from Westinghouse.

This follows an attack by Ukrainian kamikaze drones on the ZNPP immediately after an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection.

According to the statement, the drone strike was "recorded in the canteen sector located on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. A truck unloading food was damaged...Another strike was recorded in the cargo port."

❗️🇷🇺🇺🇦🏴💥🚀Уничтожение ударом "Искандера" склада и цеха по сборке БПЛА в Запорожье

📌Снятый с земли прилет «Искандера» по складу и цеху по производству БПЛА в Запорожской области https://t.co/XQMix83CFj pic.twitter.com/mWZMdCOvSO

— Alisa_Vasilisa (@Alisa_Vasilisa_) April 9, 2024