Westinghouse plans to accelerate construction of KhNPP unit 5, unit 6 immediately after war – company executive

The project to build Units 5 and 6 with American AP1000 reactors at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) is currently in an active planning phase, and Westinghouse intends to begin construction quickly once the war ends, said Dan Lipman, President of Westinghouse's Energy Systems business unit.

"Unfortunately, there's been no progress on building KhNPP-5 and 6 because the war is still ongoing... But once the war ends, we will start immediately, and I can assure you I'll be the first Westinghouse representative to come to Ukraine," Lipman said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that building the new KhNPP units requires substantial preparatory work, and Westinghouse is currently cooperating with Energoatom to identify the steps needed in the early stages to ensure the project can move forward efficiently later on.

In addition, Westinghouse is working closely with the U.S. Export-Import Bank on financing for KhNPP-5 and 6, which will be necessary to launch the project's next engineering phase.

According to Lipman, the U.S. government is actively supporting the implementation of the KhNPP-5 and 6 construction project.

"As President of Westinghouse's Energy Systems business unit, I communicate and work with U.S. government representatives almost daily. My contacts in the U.S. Administration, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and the White House are people I interact with frequently. Each of them is well aware of our cooperation with Ukraine and with Energoatom," he explained.

Lipman said all of his U.S. government counterparts support the future export of Westinghouse's AP1000 technology to Ukraine once the war is over.

"I'd say everyone understands that once the war ends, Ukraine will need to make enormous efforts to rebuild, and the energy sector, particularly nuclear energy, will be a key part of that recovery," Lipman stressed.

As reported, Energoatom and Westinghouse agreed to build nine new AP1000 power units in Ukraine. In April 2024, the project to construct infrastructure for the first AP1000 unit KhNPP-5 began, and construction of KhNPP-6 using the same technology is also planned.