Ukraine is interested in developing and deepening cooperation with American partners to oust russia from the global nuclear technology and uranium markets.

This was stated by Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko during the virtual public event “Building US nuclear energy independence: The russia connection”, organised by the Atlantic Council.

German Galushchenko noted that russia continued to hold a significant place in the global nuclear technology and uranium markets, despite the fact that its terrorist actions in Ukraine and the seizure of nuclear facilities violated the seven basic principles of nuclear and radiation safety and exposed the world to a nuclear disaster.

“This is unacceptable. The situation at the russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, Europe’s largest, is deteriorating every day. And the issue of an incident is only a matter of time... That is why we insist on imposing sanctions on rosatom and removing russia from global markets,” the Minister said.

German Galushchenko is convinced that Ukrainian-American cooperation in the nuclear industry can significantly accelerate the relevant processes. According to him, the parties already have concrete results of successful cooperation.

In particular, the American Westinghouse, together with Energoatom specialists, produced a new type of nuclear fuel for VVER-440 reactors, which broke the russian monopoly and allowed European countries that previously bought only russian nuclear fuel to choose an alternative manufacturer. “This also opened the gates for sanctions,” the Minister added. Ukraine is also working with Westinghouse on the construction of two new AP-1000 nuclear units in Ukraine, which may also be built in other European countries in the future.

In addition, German Galushchenko spoke about the successful cooperation of the Ukrainian side with another American company, Holtec, in particular on the implementation of the Centralised Spent Fuel Storage Facility project.

“I believe that now is the right time to increase the influence of the United States in the nuclear industry in Europe. This is the moment when we can replace russian nuclear technology in Europe,” the Minister is convinced.

The Head of the Ministry of Energy also stressed the need to coordinate efforts to oust russia from the global uranium markets. He stressed that Ukraine already had agreements with companies in the UK and Canada that would help weaken the aggressor country’s position in this market.