The story
In 2011 Energoatom began a project to bring safety into line with international standards at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion, with a target completion date of 2017. In 2015 the completion date was put back to 2020, due to financing delays.
In 2015 some government agencies made corruption allegations against Energoatom, with concerns raised by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. In March 2016, Energoatom's assets and bank accounts were frozen by Ukrainian courts over allegedly unpaid debts; Energoatom appealed the decision, but the frozen finances led to contractual breaches. In June 2016 its bank accounts were unfrozen.
In July 2019, a new wholesale energy market for Ukraine was launched, intended to bring real competition to the generation market and help future integration with Europe. The change was a prerequisite for receiving European Union assistance. It led to increased prices for industrial consumers of between 14% to 28% during July. The bulk of Energoatom output was sold to the government's "guaranteed buyer" to keep prices more stable for domestic customers.
On 27 November 2019, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk announced the dismissal of Energoatom CEO Yuriy Nedashkovskyi. The Ministry of Energy website later stated the dismissal was "for reasons including inefficient management, suspicion of embezzlement of state funds and mismanagement of procurement." Energoatom subsequently issued a press release rebutting these charges.
On 4 December 2019, Ukraine's government appointed Pavlo Pavlyshyn as acting head of Energoatom. During January 2020 Energoatom discussed eight legislative bills with Ostap Shypaylo, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament subcommittee on nuclear energy and safety, aimed at meeting international obligations and standards, and the financial stabilisation of Energoatom. In and after January 2020 three long-standing vice presidents were replaced. On 6 May 2020 the Ukrainian Cabinet appointed Herman Galushchenko, a lawyer, vice-president for long-term development and Hartmut Jakob, a financier and energy sector specialist, as vice-president of the financial and economic department. This followed months of disputes as to whether the posts should go to nuclear specialists from inside Energoatom or not, during a difficult financial period for the company.
In early 2020 mounting debts caused Energoatom to adjust its new fuel delivery schedule. No purchases of Westinghouse nuclear fuel were made in the first quarter. Energoatom had fuel stocks for a year of refuelling. The difficult financial condition was caused by late payments by the 'Guaranteed Buyer' under the new wholesale market regulations. Energoatom wanted to be allowed to increase bilateral contract sales from 5% to 50% of generation.
On 20 January 2021, Ukraine's government decided to transfer management from the Energy Ministry to direct government control. This was on the instructions of the President Zelenskyy, to improve the management of Energoatom. This would also part satisfy the conditions of the European Union Third Energy Package to separate transmission system operators, producers and suppliers to end users of electricity. On 24 February 2022, the Ukrainian electricity grid disconnected from the post-Soviet IPS/UPS grid, ahead of synchronising with the synchronous grid of Continental Europe.
On 22 June 2024, Ukraine's government appointed the supervisory board of Energoatom. It consists of 5 members, three of whom are independent, and two are state representatives. The selected members include Timothy John Sohn, Michael Elliot Crist, Jarek Neverovich, Vitalii Petruk, and Tymofii Mylovanov. On 21 August 2025, the supervisory board dismissed Energoatom's CEO, Petro Kotin, without explanation.
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On 10 November 2025, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a large investigation into the energy sector, alleging a kickback scheme involving Energoatom existed with a $100 million rake-off. It alleged a government adviser and the Energoatom security director had taken control of company purchasing and forced contractors to pay a 10–15% corrupt fee to avoid contracts being blocked. NABU had gathered 1,000 hours of telephone and audio recordings as evidence over the previous 15 months, and started searching Energoatom offices. Following this announcement, Energoatom supervisory board was dismissed, and Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk resigned after President Zelenskyy called for them to step down.
From Wikipedia’s article on Energoatom, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4