Ukraine set to cooperate with US company Tetra Tech to demine energy facilities
Photo: Ministry of Energy
Ukraine's Ministry of Energy and the American engineering company Tetra Tech, Inc. have agreed to collaborate on demining activities, Rubryka reports.
What's the problem?
According to preliminary assessments by energy sector companies, the area of energy infrastructure requiring inspection for mine-contaminated and explosive remnants of war exceeds 30,000 hectares, solely in the territories controlled by Ukraine.
The most heavily mined areas are the energy infrastructure territories of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Kharkiv regions. Demining is also needed for facilities in Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions.
"Considering this, we urgently need assistance from partners in demining," said Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
What's the solution?
The relevant memorandum was signed by Deputy Minister Yaroslav Demchenkov and Tetra Tech, Inc.'s project manager, Jeff Caldwell, in the presence of Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko and Tetra Tech, Inc.'s Vice President Steve Priestley.
"Demining of energy facilities is one of the priorities that will enable the energy sector to quickly restore electricity and gas supply to the population," said Halushchenko.
Photo: Ministry of Energy
How does it work?
Jeff Caldwell stressed that the agreements would help improve energy security in Ukraine.
The memorandum was signed during the international conference "Energy for the Recovery of Ukraine," taking place in Warsaw.
Tetra Tech, Inc. is expected to provide technical assistance and advisory support to the Ministry of Energy in implementing demining activities.
The parties will also collaborate on the safe restoration of Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure by clearing energy facilities, their premises, and adjacent areas of explosive remnants of war and their components, posing a threat to people's lives and health and ensuring the proper safe operation of energy facilities.
Background
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine initiated a humanitarian demining project in collaboration with Tetra Tech.
The company is a major partner of Ukraine in implementing project activities in the US. Department of State and has extensive experience in implementing demining projects worldwide and helps expand capabilities in this direction.
"We are doing everything to clear Ukraine's territory of explosive items, actively involving foreign partners. One example is our cooperation with the American company Tetra Tech," said Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine.
The company proposed building a temporary training center in Mykolaiv, where experts with advanced demining experience from different countries will train Ukrainian specialists.
The center will be able to train about 500 specialists per year, marking a significant step that will considerably expedite the demining process.
The project's uniqueness lies in its focus on training specialists in humanitarian demining. A continuous closed training cycle will be established from the initial to the highest possible level, EOD-3+.
Experts from the Ministry of Defense, other central executive authorities, and representatives of demining operators currently working in Ukraine will also be involved.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is the main stakeholder in the humanitarian demining and has cooperated with Tetra Tech since last year.
Rubryka reported that the Ministry of Economy believes that artificial intelligence can assist in the humanitarian demining of Ukraine's territory.
It was also reported that the company "Nibulon" has started building a demining vessel in Mykolaiv, which will be handed over to the State Emergency Service for demining waterways.
