Expert Believes Nuclear-Powered Crypto Mining Could Help Ukraine to Solve Energy Spending Problems

Bitcoin mining could be a proper asset to solve one of the significant issues in the Ukrainian energy sector: spending. A financial expert praised the recent push given by Ukraine’s government to nuclear-powered crypto mining across the nation.

Crypto Mining Can ‘Smooth out’ Fluctuations in Consumption, Says Expert

During an interview with Inshe, Alexei Mushak, an economic advisor to the former Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Ukraine needs bitcoin (BTC) miners, but most importantly, to take advantage of the nuclear power plants that favor smooth operations while helping to save costs.

He explained:

Modern equipment (ASIC miners) can turn on or off in the space of a minute. Crypto mining can smooth out fluctuations in consumption and generation [at nuclear power plants].

Moreover, by boosting crypto mining in the country, NAEC Energoatom, the state-run company that operates Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, could have the possibility to expand its sales markets in the near future, after having a $171 million loss over 2020.

‘Nuclear’ Crypto Mining Data Centers to Be Launched in 2023

But nuclear-powered crypto mining is a project that has been in the works since May 2020.

The project was authored by the former acting Minister of Energy Olga Buslavets. It seeks to build data centers near four NAEC Energoatom’s nuclear plants in an initial phase.

Such data centers – whose approval was granted by the government – could have the capabilities to mine BTC and major altcoins, although it wasn’t specified on the plan. If the project goes as expected, it can be inaugurated by 2023.

Also, as Bitcoin.com News reported on January 30, 2021, Ukraine’s government-owned nuclear power plant picked a firm to build a massive data center in Rivne for cryptocurrency mining operations.

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 company expects to finish the data center building by August 31, 2022.

Overall, Ukraine has a significant portion of the crypto mining market share. According to Mushak, the country has 30% of the bitcoin mining market. However, mining activities have been slowing down in the last few years.