Details on the project with cryptocurrency mining near nuclear power plants are not yet available, however, representatives of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine have already negotiated with representatives of Energoatom, а state-owned nuclear energy company, Ukrainian chipset manufacturer Hotmine and Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeniy Vladimirov.
A Memorandum of Understanding must be signed for the proposal to proceed.
Ukrainian media reported that the government is considering building Bitcoin mining centres, each of which can consume between 250 and 500 megawatts of electric power. Energoatom’s forecast indicates that the total energy consumption at these facilities may reach 2 GW.
According to Vladimirov, absorbing the additional load will help reduce energy transmission costs and increase government revenues.
“The idea of creating centres based on nuclear power plants, of course, deserves attention, because the power plants of Ukraine have unutilised base capacities. The constant functioning of nuclear power units can generate additional revenue to the state-owned Energoatom and allow enterprises to operate and pay taxes to the domestic budget.”
Nuclear energy covers half of Ukraine’s energy needs. The country operates four nuclear power plants composed of 15 reactors in Volyn and southern Ukraine, purchasing fuel from Russia and Westinghouse. In 2016, data revealed that Ukraine had an installed capacity of 1З GW, ranking seventh in the world.
In the second quarter of 2020, Energy Minister Olga Buslavets approved a study “on the possible implementation of projects for the extraction of cryptocurrency to provide additional markets for electricity produced at nuclear power plants.” As a result, Energoatom signed a memorandum of understanding with H2 LLC on the construction of a $700 million crypto-mining centre next to the Zaporizhzhya NPP, the largest power plant in Europe.
