Ukraine Identifies Candidate Sites for Small Modular Reactors in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

The State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management and NNEGC Energoatom inspected areas near two long-abandoned villages inside the 30-km Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and have identified candidate plots for small modular reactors, a move that officials say could fast-track siting decisions for Ukraine’s SMR program. World Nuclear News reported on 27 February 2026 that representatives from the State Agency, Energoatom specialists and Chornobyl NPP officials conducted on-site visits and technical discussions about the locations.

WNN said the visit was followed by technical talks. "This was followed by a technical discussion on the suitability of these sites for future SMR construction," the reporting quoted CNPP as saying, and WNN added that the meeting was the second on-site review to "review potential locations for small modular reactors (SMRs) proposed by Chornobyl NPP and discuss land allocation matters." The specific village names and plot coordinates were not provided in the reports.

Hryhorii Ishchenko, head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, told Interfax-Ukraine on 19 May that the agency is prepared to transfer land for the program. "We are also ready to allocate land plots for the placement of small modular reactors for Energoatom," he said, framing the Chernobyl proposals as part of a broader national energy strategy. NV and other summaries note that Energoatom and Ukrenergo have identified 12 potential SMR sites across Ukraine as part of that strategy.

The Chernobyl candidates sit against a wider industrial and contractual backdrop. NV and InterestingEngineering recall a 2023 Holtec-Energoatom agreement for roughly 20 SMRs and ongoing national plans to deploy as many as nine Westinghouse AP1000 large reactors at other sites. Officials have also discussed establishing domestic facilities to produce reactor components and infrastructure for spent fuel storage and transport, elements Energy Ministry planners consider necessary to scale an SMR program.

Safety and perception remain front-and-center in planning. InterestingEngineering reports that surveys are still being carried out at the disaster site and around it to determine radiation levels, and it notes that building in Chernobyl would be "especially more difficult, at least from a public perception point of view." War-time constraints also frame the timetable: reporting across outlets records that nuclear planning and vendor talks have continued during the war, even as Zaporizhzhia NPP has remained under Russian military control since early March 2022.

Key details remain outstanding. None of the sources named the two long-abandoned villages or published radiation measurements for the candidate plots, and no formal memorandum with exact signatories, legal land-allocation instruments, or vendor assignments for the Chernobyl sites has been produced publicly. Officials quoted by NV said a formal agreement or memorandum on beginning work is expected soon, leaving the next concrete steps to surveys, regulator review and an as-yet-unspecified contracting process.