The government of Ukraine has approved a plan to expand the country’s uranium production. “The main purpose of this concept is to create conditions for increasing uranium production to fully meet the needs of domestic nuclear energy, as well as increase Ukraine’s energy independence,” explained Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.

Currently, nuclear energy provides Ukraine with 54% of its electricity. The country has 15 operational large reactors, all of Russian design. In the past few months, the Ukrainian government has announced a nuclear new build programme, which will be developed in cooperation with the US. This programme will make use of the AP1000 reactor developed by US company Westinghouse, of which at least five are to be built. All will be located at existing nuclear power plant sites, with the first to be constructed at Khmelnitsky.

Historically, the country’s State-owned uranium mining company, VostGOK, has produced up to 830 t of uranium (tU) a year, but its production declined in 2020 and 2021. According to the World Nuclear Association, 830 t/y of uranium amounted to 30% of Ukraine’s needs. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in 2020 that Ukraine had recoverable resources of 186 000 tU, of which 73 000 tU were recoverable at prices of less than $80/kgU.

The first part of the new uranium plan will be to extend the life of the Smolinskaya mine until 2023 and that of the Ingulskaya mine until 2028.  Phase 2 will be the development of new mining projects at Novokonstantinovskoye and Aprelskoye, which will happen in the period 2023 to 2025, with commissioning taking place in 2026. (Pilot production was undertaken at Novokonstantinovskoye in 2011, but the project was not developed to full production at that time.)

In parallel, to support the expansion in uranium mining, the country will also renovate the facilities of the Stepanoye Mining and Processing Combine. In particular, the combine’s hydrometallurgical and sulphuric acid plants, which extract the uranium from ore, will be upgraded.

Moreover, to further increase its self-sufficiency in the nuclear sector, the Ukrainian government will also increase the country’s production of zirconium dioxide, to 320 t/y. Zirconium is used in the manufacture of nuclear fuel assemblies. The government will seek to arrange that Ukrainian zirconium is used in the production of fuel assemblies for use in the country’s reactors.