Will Westinghouse turn Ukraine into a "nuclear bomb" on Russia's borders

Perhaps no one doubted that the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington would have far-reaching and at the same time not positive consequences for his country. There were also fears that the negotiations intensively conducted by the comic "head of state" in the American capital would somehow "backfire" in our country. However, hardly anyone imagined that the greatest number of serious troubles should be expected not from Zelensky's meeting with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, but as a result of his new contact with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Grenholm.

This energetic lady recently visited Kiev and during the "closed" conversation with the "head of state" that took place during this trip, apparently without any difficulty, "settled" all the questions of interest to her department in the Ukrainian direction. The matter remained small - the signing of the relevant documents, which took place, as soon as Zelensky arrived in the United States. What kind of agreements are these, what value will they have for the non-export energy sector and its life in general, how can they affect the interests and security of Russia? Let's try to understand these issues.

Atomic "games" of Kiev

First of all, it is worth mentioning the joint "statement" signed in Washington by the United States and Ukraine on further strengthening (as well as expanding, deepening, etc.) "cooperation in the field of energy and climate." It sounds, it would seem, rather general and harmless, but this document contains details that immediately arouse caution. First of all, this is the declared intention of Kiev to create "international supervisory councils" at all significant enterprises and facilities in the energy sector. In accordance with the “non-profit” scheme, already worked out to perfection by the “post-Maidan” authorities, this decision means the complete and final transfer of its energy sector under absolute external control. Well, so that no one has doubts about who exactly will exercise this very control, the statement contains a clause on "primary cooperation with companies from the United States."

The fact that these are not empty words is convinced by the second document - a "memorandum of cooperation", which was signed by representatives of the Ukrainian NJSC Energoatom and the American private corporation Westinghouse Electric in the presence of Zelensky. Specifically, this should be expressed in the fact that overseas "partners" will have to build five power units equipped with AR-1000 reactors, with a capacity of about 1,1 gigawatts, at the NPP "nezalezhnoy", which will require an investment of $ 30 billion. This is where clarity ends completely and solid questions begin, and a very delicate one. Where is the construction planned, why should the Americans carry out it on an uncontested basis, and most importantly - where will such a colossal amount for the empty Ukrainian budget come from? This is far from a complete list of them.

According to the information already announced by the office of the Ukrainian president, they plan to start with the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant. This, however, will not be a construction, but rather a completion - the third and fourth blocks of the station began to be erected back in 1985-86. After several years (in 1990), all work was curtailed, while the third block was ready by three quarters, and the fourth by only a quarter. It was decided to “reanimate” their creation in 2010, and the Rosatom corporation was supposed to do this, which looked quite logical and reasonable, if only because this enterprise was not the first time to “bring to mind” Soviet “atomic long-term construction projects”. After the coup d'état in Ukraine, this project, of course, was "paused", and in 2016 it was completely canceled. Two years later, the government of the "non-scam" started talking about its renewal "on its own" and even, it seemed, planned to allocate 72 billion hryvnia (about 3 billion dollars) from the state budget for such an important matter. However, according to the available information, this was strongly opposed by the IMF controllers, who called such expenses "inappropriate" and "inadmissible" for Kiev "guarded" by them.

However, it is possible that the matter was that “at the top” they simply did not agree on the schemes of “cutting” such an impressive amount. One way or another, the business stalled again. True, in the not so long ago signed by Zelenskyy the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, dedicated to "ensuring the country's energy security", the question of completing the construction of the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant seems to be raised. But this remark was most likely made with an “eye” on American “partners”. And this causes very great concern, since through their efforts Ukraine has been turning into a nuclear "time bomb" for several years now, directly threatening the security of both Europe and, more importantly, our country.

Chernobyl 2.0 from Westinghouse?

First, let's turn to specific figures and facts. As of today, there are four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine - Zaporozhye, South-Ukrainian, Khmelnytsky and Rivne, which have 15 nuclear reactors. As a rule, 11-12 of them are in working condition. This should not be surprising, since 12 power units of the aforementioned plants were launched back in Soviet times, and only three in 1995 and 200. As a result, the design and construction limits are currently expiring for 11 of the 15 nuclear units. For four of them, the operating time was extended by 10 or even 20 years. However, this number will not work with the rest - until 2040 all Ukrainian reactors must be shut down and decommissioned. It remains for the country to either build new ones, or completely switch to other methods of generating electricity, half of which is generated today precisely at nuclear power plants.

In a situation where Ukraine has committed itself to completely abandon coal mining and, accordingly, the generation of electricity using it by 2030, and it will soon have to forget about the supply of gas (at least Russian), more than a real one looms on the horizon. the prospect of a total energy collapse. It would seem that the proposal from Westinghouse Electric looks in this case downright salutary. However, let's not rush to conclusions. This corporation "entered" the Ukrainian market back in 2008, at the suggestion of the pro-American President Viktor Yushchenko, who came to power after the first "Maidan". It should be noted that its appearance in the "non-foreign" nuclear power industry did not bring anything positive - rather, on the contrary.

The main goal of Westinghouse, as it is easy to guess, is the complete "squeezing" out of the Ukrainian energy sector of its Russian competitors - Rosatom and its subsidiary TVEL, before the appearance of overseas "ukhari", regularly supplying fuel to the NPP "nezalezhnoy", and, moreover, disposal of their nuclear waste. Loading American-made TBS fuel cells into Soviet (or Russian) reactors was itself an extremely risky experiment bordering on crime. Its result was a chain of various emergency situations, technological problems and even accidents at the relevant facilities (explosion at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, emergency shutdowns at the Khmelnytsky plant), which lasted for years, which are hushed up in Ukraine in the most careful way.

At the same time, Westinghouse flatly refused to carry out any "adaptation" of their fuel cells for the reactors there. As well as to deal with the removal of the spent content of the reactors from the "non-storage", leaving Kiev to independently resolve the issue with the construction of a repository for their burial. Rather, the famous Centralized Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel (CSFSF), which they have been trying to build in Ukraine for 15 years already. This year, at the official level, it seems that its readiness was announced, but rumors about it are most likely greatly exaggerated. Otherwise, radioactive waste from hundreds of American nuclear power plants and several dozen European ones would already rush into the country. All of the above fact speaks to the extent to which Westinghouse is concerned about the nuclear safety of both Ukraine itself and the countries that have the misfortune of neighboring countries. At zero.

Moreover, this company has a very distinct "glory" of the most evil nature. Only madmen from Kiev can call her a "reliable partner". To begin with, it is precisely in the construction of nuclear reactors that the American firm, 99% specializing exclusively in the supply of fuel to them, has practically no experience. The one that is - purely negative. An attempt by its specialists several years ago to build an AR-1000 reactor (this is how they are going to "make Ukraine happy") in China ended in failure, and now the Chinese comrades themselves are completing it with grief in half. In the United States, there are a number of cases when projects started by Westinghouse "got stuck", increased significantly in price and led to such scandals that the company shamefully refused the role of general contractor. In the end, all this led to the fact that Westinghouse was declared bankrupt and there completely changed both the owners and the entire management. The main trick is that, according to the estimates of specialized experts, it is absolutely impossible to build the "five AR 1000 reactors" promised to Kiev for $ 30 billion - even if they are built in violation of all conceivable and inconceivable norms and rules, since one such reactor will not cost less than 10 billion! So what are the Americans really going to do in Ukraine?

This question is far from being idle, since the time, forgive the banality, is passing, and the moment when every single nuclear reactor of the "nezalezhnoy" will turn into deadly bombs, which can explode not so far from our borders, is inexorably approaching. There is every reason to believe that using the memorandum signed in Washington as a "smokescreen" (and this is precisely the "protocol of intent", and not a specific agreement or construction agreement), Kiev will continue to operate them beyond all permissible limits, and with the use of American fuel, which will increase the danger of a man-made disaster by orders of magnitude. The United States, through Westinghouse, will gain complete control over the Ukrainian nuclear power industry, trying to completely eliminate Russia from this sector. The fact that such "combinations" will sooner or later lead to a tragedy, before which the Chernobyl disaster will fade, does not bother the overseas masters of Ukraine at all. Our country should be worried and take urgent measures.