On September 25, 2024, the state enterprise "Energoatom" concluded an agreement worth UAH 509 million for the design and construction of a protective structure at the Rivne nuclear power plant. This information became known thanks to the publication "Our Money" with reference to the "Prozorro" system.
According to the publication, the reasons for concluding the agreement became clear after the statement of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi at the UN General Assembly, where he emphasized that the energy equipment near Ukrainian nuclear power plants is unprotected and can become a target for Russian missiles. This prompted "Energoatom" to design the "second level" protection, which involves the construction of reinforced concrete U-shaped structures. These structures are supposed to protect large transformers from attacks, in particular from shahed and shrapnel damage.
As experts note, the effectiveness of similar protective structures has already been proven at Ukrenergo substations. It is noted that although design and construction work has been ongoing since last year, even the unfinished structures already provide some level of protection.
However, the contract for UAH 509 million for the RANP raises concerns due to the lack of information about the size of the construction. "Our Money" emphasizes that many details of the agreement remain hidden, which calls into question the transparency of processes in the public sector.
It is also worth noting the activation of Ukrhydroenergo, which in September conducted purchases for the protection and restoration of damaged hydroelectric power plants for a total amount of UAH 1.11 billion. Of these funds, UAH 0.54 billion went to the agreement with PrJSC "Ukrstal Construction", which belongs to former oligarch Vitaly Hayduk. Again, details of the construction materials prices for these contracts have not been made public.
