Rolls-Royce Holdings UK is in talks with Ukraine’s biggest private power company to build a string of mini nuclear power plants in the country, according to a report.
The Telegraph said DTEK, which is part of billionaire businessman Rinat Akhmetov’s industrial group, has held talks with the FTSE 100-listed firm about developing small modular reactors (SMRs) at sites currently operated by coal power stations.
Maxim Timchenko, the company’s chief executive, said he expects nuclear power to form an important part of DTEK’s future portfolio as Ukraine is rebuilt and his country switches away from fossil fuels.
DTEK and Rolls are examining whether up to eight existing coal power station sites, two of them currently in territory occupied by Russia, could eventually be converted to house SMRs in the 2030s.
In an interview, Timchenko told The Telegraph: “We are trying to find a way to install these SMRs.
“From our side, we have quite a big capacity of coal-fired power stations and we are in discussions with Rolls-Royce SMR to convert [them].”