Nuclear power, inherited by Ukraine from the Soviet Union, in the near future may cause a new radioactive disaster. This will be facilitated by the intention to extend indefinitely the life of the existing power units, as well as transferring them to atomic assemblies of American production, which will be installed in reactors made in the USSR.

Ukrainian nuclear power plants already cause serious fears today, as the number of emergency situations increases every year. Interviewed by the Ukrainian portal Vesti, scientists are literally sounding the alarm: in 2016. The number of emergencies increased fivefold as compared to 2015.

The reason is the wear and tear of equipment that has already exhausted its resource, says Vladimir Kohnevich, head of the Institute of Renewable Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In addition, he believes, the course of the leadership of the nuclear industry to replace Russian nuclear fuel with an American one, which is one-third more expensive than the Russian one.

But this is half the battle. It is dangerous to say that it allows regulating NPP capacity in the range of 25%. In the Soviet era, this was not allowed, but today "everything is possible in Ukraine, experts are not listening," says Professor, Corresponding Member of NASU Georgy Lisichenko.

Daily maneuvers capacity - a common thing, because the amount of electricity consumption day and night are very different, and have not yet learned to store it. Therefore in the afternoon the power system produces more, and at night - less energy. True, such a maneuver is carried out at the expense of thermal power plants: TPP, TPP, GRES, as well as hydroelectric power plants. However, the timing of their modernization is hopelessly failed, and in the European Union may require withdrawal from the load.

But today the Ukrainian "Energoatom" seriously discusses the possibility of maneuvering with the help of nuclear power plants. "This is not their property. We wrote protests to the government to prohibit maneuvering by nuclear power plants, "Lisichenko said, noting that Energoatom's president Yuri Nedashkovsky hopes for the assemblies of the American company Westinghouse.

Former general director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Mikhail Umanets concludes that, in general, security indicators in the nuclear industry fall sharply. There are several reasons: firstly, this is the extension of the service life, and secondly, the absence of scientists in Energoatom,. "For 25 years, Ukraine has not made its scientific and technical support for nuclear energy, and everything is decided by the state regulator, in which there is not a single atomic engineer," he said..

Objections to the European Union can also cause the extension of the lifetime of nuclear power plants. Recently 22 eurodeputies and environmental organizations of the EU have demanded from the EBRD and the European Commission to stop financial assistance to Ukraine under the pretext that it did not sign the safety directive.

Scientists believe that the problem lies deeper: even with the extension of the reactor lifetime from 2023 new power units should be put into operation, but they need at least 15 years to build.

In addition, the country does not have the resources either to remove power units from operation or to handle waste. The state program on nuclear waste management in 2016 was implemented only 12%, the funds were simply plundered, Lisichenko.

Gloomily look to the future and Mikhail Umanets. The withdrawal of power units from operation is a lot of money, which Ukraine simply does not have. And to stop the nuclear power plant just like this - it means to produce new "Chernobyl", he believes..