On 20 January, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers decided to transfer direct management of nuclear utility Energoatom from the Energy Ministry to the government.
Prime Minister Denis Shmygal announced the decision on his Telegram channel. He said the decision was made in line with instructions from the President of Ukraine, as well as the conditions of the Third Energy Package of the EU in terms of delimiting transmission system operators, producers and suppliers of electricity.
A number of thermal power plants and a hydroelectric plant were also transferred to government management.
The Ministry of Economy will prepare and submit for consideration to the Cabinet of Ministers draft decisions approving the amended statutes of these state-owned enterprises.
The government decision followed a September decree by the President of Ukraine (No 406) "On urgent measures to stabilise the situation in the energy sector and further development of nuclear energy".
The President of Ukraine instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to consider the issues of improving management of Energoatom, in particular, by taking over the functions of managing the company.
Energoatom operates Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants (Zaporozhye, Rovno, South-Ukraine and Khmelnitsky), which operate 15 nuclear units, 13 of which are VVER-1000s and two VVER-440s, with a total installed capacity of 13,835MWe.
Image: Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant (Credit: Energoatom)
