Employees of Ukrainian nuclear power plants are being dismissed and are leaving to work in Russia, Belarus and Turkey, as a result of underfunding of the industry, according to Verkhovna Rada (parliament) deputy Victoria Voitsitskaya, representative of the reformist Samopomich (Self-Help) faction which withdrew from the ruling coalition in 2016.
"One of the key challenges, according to NPP officials, is the dismissal en masse of personnel: from diesel locomotive drivers, installers, excavators to reactor control engineers and other high-tech equipment. These people are emigrating to Russia, Belarus, Turkey," she wrote on her Facebook page. The deputy noted that the industry is "critically under-funded" because of the discriminatory tariff policy of the regulator. Voytsitskaya added that the tariff policy needs to be changed urgently. Her comment came following discussions with the leaders of the Zaporozhye, Rivne and South-Ukrainian nuclear plants.
The nuclear industry, which generates more than 50% of Ukraine's electricity, needs support, she said. The industry of Ukraine is represented by four nuclear power plants (Khmelnitsky, Rivne, South-Ukrainian and Zaporozhye) with 15 power units. At the end of 2017, the share of nuclear power in the country's energy balance was 55%.
Photo: Map showing location of Ukraine's nuclear fleet