Amid ongoing shelling of its energy facilities Ukraine began the construction of two more nuclear reactors in the western part of the country, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported that in the presence of the Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko and the US Ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink, the foundation stone of reactor units 5 and 6 of the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant was laid.
According to the information, the ceremony took place on Thursday, but for security reasons it has only now been made public.
Unlike other types of power plants, Russia has so far spared nuclear facilities in its drone and missile attacks, probably because it is aware of the fact that this could lead to a nuclear disaster, the scale of which is difficult to calculate, commented DPA.
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The units will be built in cooperation with the American nuclear energy company "Westinghouse". They are pressurized water reactors of the AP1000 type, whose service life, according to the company, is at least 60 years.
"This is a more advanced and safer technology than the one we use now," said Petro Kotin, Acting CEO of the Ukrainian company "Energoatom". He added that this represents a first step towards new safe and reliable energy supplies.
The time to build one reactor is estimated at four to five years, and the costs - about 5 billion dollars.
The new reactors do not represent a quick solution to the energy supply problems in Ukraine, notes DPA.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, has been systematically bombing the country's energy supply facilities. Recently, it has targeted its missiles in particular at thermal and hydroelectric plants, and the Ukrainian air defense system has been overwhelmed by the number of attacks.
Meanwhile, the last reactor at the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which has come under periodic shelling blamed on both sides, has been shut down. This means that all six of the plant's reactors are in a cold shutdown state. During the procedure, there was no release of radioactivity, the management of the facility said in its publication in "Telegram".
The cold stop state is considered the safest, as it reduces the pressure in the blocks and cools them with cold water, the DPA states.