Ukraine to Set up a Large-Scale Crypto Mining Data Center in a Nuclear Power Plant

Ukraine’s government-owned nuclear power plant picked a firm to build a massive data center in Rivne for cryptocurrency mining operations. After a bidding process, Energoatom chose Kyiv Energy Construction Company to handle the nuclear plant crypto mining project.

Nuclear Power Plant Operator Expects to Launch the Data Center in 2022

According to official documents, the data center will be based in the Rivne nuclear power plant, after the construction firm got 8.92 million Hryvnia ($317,620) in funding. The only competitor in the bidding was Ukrenergobudproek. However, they allegedly made an expensive offer, said the regional news outlet Forklog.

The Kyiv Energy Construction Company expects to finish the data center building by August 31, 2022. Per the announcement, the contractor is required to send the documentation that details the whole process. It includes “host state registers, electronic archives, and computing facilities.”

In terms of technical details, the nuclear power plant has a capacity of 2,657 megawatts, and it was built in the late 1970s. Also, the operations of the state-owned nuclear facilities started at the beginning of 1980.

In October 2020, Energoatom also signed a memorandum with a subsidiary of crypto mining giant Bitfury. With the new data center, local media outlets believe Bitfury miners could move their operations into the power plant’s facilities.

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Ukraine’s Interest Towards Building Crypto Mining Data Centers in Nuclear Plants

The deal between Energoatom and Kyiv Energy Construction Company is not a surprising move. In fact, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine asked Energoatom in May 2020 to conduct research to assess crypto mining’s feasibility at their nuclear plants.

As an anecdotal fact in terms of crypto mining in Ukrainian nuclear plants, the nation’s Security Service found illegal crypto mining equipment in a nuclear power plant in 2019.

The installation’s illegal mining rigs were found in the Southern region of Ukraine. Moreover, the investigations determined that such illegal equipment breached a “state secret.”

What do you think about this announcement of building crypto mining data centers in nuclear power plants? Let us know in the comments section below.

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