Ukraine forges ahead with nuclear power

Russian forces are occupying Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant. Low-flying Russian missiles have hurtled past another plant in southern Ukraine, and Russian shelling recently damaged buildings at a nuclear research institute in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Is Ukraine having second thoughts about nuclear energy? Recent developments suggest just the opposite.

Last month, Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear utility, signed agreements to build more reactors; transition to buying all its nuclear fuel from Sweden rather than Russia; and construct a new engineering and technical center focused on nuclear power. Energoatom also received approval to start storing its own spent nuclear fuel in a newly built centralized facility, although the facility can’t begin accepting nuclear materials until they can be safely transported by train.