Ukraine, afraid to anger its former ruler and monopoly supplier of nuclear fuel and gas, instead of standing up for the company helping to ease its dependence on Russia, is again bowing to its bully to the northeast.
The trouble began when Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate in 2012 said it found Westinghouse nuclear fuel assemblies in three reactors here to be faulty, a claim the American company disputes. The real problem, it says, are the fuel assemblies of the Russian state-owned nuclear power company TVEL, which according to Westinghouse bend and sway when placed in the reactors so much that they’re damaging the American assemblies around them.
Many experts – including at least one from a Ukrainian government-funded think tank – say TVEL’s fuel simply doesn’t compare to the quality of the American-made fuel and that in 21 cases last year alone the Russian assemblies even leaked radiation.
Instead of letting Russia strong-arm it in another energy sector, Ukraine needs to take the reins. Already Russia is crying foul that Ukraine is re-importing the natural gas it supplies to Europe from Russia at cheaper prices. And it is aggressively pursuing the South Stream project to circumvent Ukraine and weaken it as a strategic geopolitical player.
Indeed, Russia has never taken the trouble to veil too much that it aims to weaken, divide and make Ukraine subservient to it. But Ukraine needs to persist in cutting the umbilical cord.
One place Ukraine can start is by constructing a nuclear fuel facility here that will give the opportunity for the country to produce enough fuel on its own to power 13 of its 15 reactors. The catch? Ukraine awarded the project to TVEL, leaving it again at the mercy of Russia. Worse yet, TVEL will own just less than half of the plant, assuming it’s ever completed. Westinghouse’s bid would have allowed Ukraine to own it outright.
Ukraine should look elsewhere for partners, including partners in nuclear projects – and we can’t care less whether the companies are French, American or Japanese. The only thing we know for sure is that the nation would benefit from diluting Russia’s monopolies.
