Ukraine Considers Using Nuclear Plants for Cryptocurrency Mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a contemporary and efficient way to use excess energy, Ukraine's Ministry of Energy argued in a May 6 statement published on Facebook. According to the post, local nuclear plants have generated the surplus due to the COVID-19 lockdown. 

The course toward digitalization

The bureau is now looking to apply progressive solutions to avoid wasting energy as part of the government’s course toward digitalization championed by president Volodymyr Zelensky. Leaving the situation unchanged might create “conditions for corruption offenses, which will ultimately be paid at Ukrainian citizens’ expense”, the ministry warns.

Crypto mining, in turn, could prove to be one of the efficient solutions, the post continues:

“There is a way to transfer this ‘liability’ into an ‘asset’. One of the modern approaches for using excess electricity is to devote it to cryptocurrency mining. That would not only allow to maintain the guaranteed load on the nuclear power plants, but also ensure that companies can attract extra funds. Therefore, it would open the way to a fundamentally new economy, new approaches, a new market model.”

As previously reported by a Russian-language crypto news outlet Forklog on May 5, the acting head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy requested the state-owned enterprise Energoatom to study potential ways to implement cryptocurrency mining at the country’s nuclear energy generating facilities by May 8. 

A potentially profitable operation?

Power plants have been used for cryptocurrency mining before, although not on a government scale. As reported by Cointelegraph in March, a privately-owned power plant in New York’s Finger Lakes region turned to Bitcoin (BTC) mining, adding about $50,000 worth of BTC each day to daily revenues.