EXPERIENCE AND READINESS OF JSC KIEP FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF POWER UNITS NO. 3 AND NO. 4 AT THE KHMELNYTSKY NPP

During 2012-2016, by order of SE NAEK "Energoatom", JSC KIEP developed a feasibility study "Construction of power units No. 3 and No. 4 of the Khmelnytsky NPP", which was approved by the relevant resolution of the CMU, and became the basis for the construction of the mentioned power units, which should begin with the development of JSC KIEP updated design documentation.

In 2022-2023, according to the decisions of the President, the Government of Ukraine, and SE Energoatom NAEK, work on the completion of power units No. 3 and No. 4 at the Khmelnytsky NPP is scheduled to begin. Currently, JSC KIEP, with the involvement of subcontractors, is carrying out additional inspection and repair work on the civil structures of power unit No. 3. SE NAEK "Energoatom" is conducting activities related to the purchase of the main equipment of the reactor plant from the "Belene" NPP, which, if successful, will allow the JSC  KIEP (that is the main designer of the KhNPP as part of 4 VVER-1000 power units since 1975) to start the development of the designs of power units No. 3 and No. 4 in the near future.

It should be mentioned that JSC KIEP in the period of 70-80 years, as a general designer,  carried out simultaneously the development of three NPP designs: NPP "PAKSH" in Hungary with 4 units of VVER-440, Khmelnytsky NPP with 4 units of VVER-1000 and Rivne NPP with two VVER-1000 units (units #3 and #4). Only thanks to the high qualification of engineers, the competent organization of the development of documentation and the full dedication of all employees, JSC KIEP has developed the above designs in full for 10 years and provided engineering support for the commissioning of the power units. Later JSC KIEP developed the designs of Odesa AThPP, Chigyryn NPP, Paksh-2 NPP in Hungary, Belene NPP in Bulgaria, the construction of which was stopped during the moratorium on the construction of NPPs in many countries of the world.

After the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, taking into account the consequences and causes of the accident, the Government of the USSR made a decision to  analyze thoroughly the safety of the existing power units with VVER. It was established that these units provide the required level of safety, but nevertheless, new measures (mainly focused on passive safety systems) to increase the safety of nuclear power plants with VVER-1000 were proposed by the developers of the unified VVER-1000 project. In 1987 JSC KIEP was appointed by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR as the general designer of the enhanced safety nuclear power plant (NPP-88), including the reactor building of this project with the involvement of a large number of design and scientific institutions of the former USSR. This project of the reactor building of NPP-88 under the leadership of KIEP was successfully completed and approved, and later, the solutions of this design were put into the development of NPP designs with VVER of the new generation, which were already implemented by the Russian Federation (the aggressor country) for many countries of the world.
In the period of 2000-2004, JSC KIEP, without the involvement of any Russian organizations, executed extension projects and simultaneously provided detail documentation for the construction of two power units with VVER-1000: power unit No. 4 at the Rivne NPP and No. 2 at the Khmelnytsky NPP.

Now we are witnessing the renaissance of JSC KIEP, even during the martial law, as the chief designer of the KhNPP, he again has the desire, the necessary experience, personnel and resources to perform the full scope of design and engineering work on the implementation of the KhNPP-3, 4 completion project.