ŠKODA JS delivered a last set of reactor control drives to the Rovno Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine

The engineering company ŠKODA JS a.s. of ČEZ Group, one of the European leaders in nuclear power engineering, has currently completed the shipment of the last 8 units of new drives (of the final tranche of 23 units) for two VVER 440 reactors of the Ukrainian Rovno (Rivne) Nuclear Power Plant. The equipment produced in the Plzen engineering works is used to stabilize the output of and allows to control the reactors. All of the 76 drives delivered under the previously signed contract (see below) have now been delivered on site, most of them having already been installed and commissioned. The remaining ones have been retrieved from the store and made ready to replace those originally installed which await the end of their technological lifetime. (Note: ŠKODA JS is not permitted by the customer to publish the financial volume of this contract).

For safety reasons due to the ongoing armed conflict and the repeated Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure of the country, ŠKODA JS is informing about the job order completion just now after unloading the last 8 drives at the place of destination. Rovno is one of the four nuclear power plants in Ukraine (together with Khmelnytsky, South Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia, with this last mentioned being the only one out of operation located on the territory occupied by Russia). It is located near the Ukrainian borders with Poland and Belarus. ÚJV Řež, which is part of ČEZ Group along with ŠKODA JS, has lately manufactured and delivered a special cable (173 m long and weighing 13 tons) for the Rovno NPP to reinforce the protection of the reactor building.

The local nuclear power plants need the drives urgently to ensure their nuclear safety. Their replacement could only be postponed for a maximum of 1 year with the approval of the local nuclear safety authority. In the context of the destruction of a part of Ukraine's energy infrastructure after repeated Russian attacks on most conventional (fossil) or hydropower sources, the importance of smooth operation of nuclear power plants for stable electricity supply on the Ukrainian territory increases, the issue being intensified by the onset of winter. 

“At present, we are the only manufacturer in the world which can supply this type of drives to the Ukrainian nuclear power plants,” Petr Altschul, Commercial ‘Director of ŠKODA JS a.s., said. For the only alternative manufacturer is located in Russia. As a reliable partner of the Ukrainian nuclear power engineering facilities, ŠKODA JS wishes to follow the just completed job order along with the prior ones. “Other similar projects are currently being negotiated, concerning namely deliveries of modernized versions of control rod drive mechanisms for the South Ukraine (Pivdenno-Ukrainian) Nuclear Power Plant, where we expect to sign a contract during the year to come,” Petr Altschul said.

The above-mentioned ŠKODA JS projects for nuclear power engineering, however, are regularly facing funding deficits. Ukrainian preferences are focused on reconstruction of the conventional sources destroyed in the war, to which most of the investments in energy infrastructure are directed. This was, among other things, also the reason of the delays in the export of the last drives for the Rovno NPP. “The Ukrainian party strives to agree on securing funds also for this area of its energy industry from its own, European or other sources,” Petr Altschul added.

In Ukraine, ŠKODA JS is also active as regards the already published intention of extending the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant with further VVER power units. If the construction is started, one can realistically expect the involvement of the manufacturing and engineering know-how of ŠKODA JS, the company which prides itself on excellent references, both historically and owing mainly to their freshly acquired experience in the completion and start-up of the Mochovce NPP in Slovakia just for this specific segment of VVER nuclear technologies.

Genesis of the recently completed order of drives for the Rovno NPP, complicated by the pandemic and war

The contract for a total number of 76 drives was literally an ordeal for both contracting parties (ŠKODA JS and Ukrainian company Energoatom), of whom neither could be blamed for it. The original order became valid as early as about 5 years ago in 2019. Unfortunately, the transport of the first tranche was affected by the covid pandemic, and when it subsided, a war broke out in February 2022. And the date set in ŠKODA JS for shipment of a part of the drives for the Rovno NPP was just 24 February 2022…

Moreover, the things were complicated by the Plzen company having a Russian owner until June 2022 and by Ukraine starting to apply the sanctions against Russia consistently. It was not until the entry of the strong Czech owner – ČEZ Group – and the subsequent erasure of ŠKODA JS from the OFAC sanction list in May 2023 that negotiations on realistic completion of the job order could be re-started. In the first quarter of this year, the parties came to agreement on signing an amendment to the contract dealing with the funding of the remaining 32 drives, of which 9 were sent as soon as in April. The previous 44 units of the series of 76 were managed to be exported in the first days of the armed conflict.

Karel Samec, Spokesman
karel.samec@skoda-js.cz    +420 603 200 076