Wedoany.com Report-Nov 18, The United States will partner with Ukraine to transition Ukraine's coal-fired plants to small modular nuclear reactors, and to use them to help decarbonize its steel industry, the countries announced on Nov. 16 at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Small modular reactors (SMR) are an emerging technology that allow for reactors to be transported and assembled on site.
The partnership will build a roadmap and provide technical support to "rebuild, modernize, and decarbonize Ukraine's steel industry with SMRs," according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.
It will also "facilitate the transition of Ukraine’s coal-fired power plants to secure and safe SMR nuclear power plants utilizing existing infrastructure and retraining the workforce," the statement read.
Another project announced at the conference, known as COP29, will build a pilot plant in Ukraine to demonstrate production of clean hydrogen and ammonia using simulated SMR technology.
Ukraine is expected to face a brutal energy crisis through its toughest winter since the start of the full-scale invasion after Russia took out capacity from half of its electricity generation sector in large-scale air strikes.