Hollywood Hunter

Ukraine.

The northern border of Rivne Oblast is more than 80 kilometers away from the capital city of Rivni. Simon arrived here with a group of people the next day he arrived.

This is the location of one of the four nuclear power plants in operation in Ukraine.

Nuclear power plant in Rivne region.

In order to turn Rivne Region into a "European Factory", abundant and cheap human resources are only the most basic condition. If only people are needed, Africa may become a "Earth Factory". In addition to low-cost human resources, if a region wants to develop, it also needs a complete infrastructure supporting system.

At this stage, the biggest obstacle restricting Simon's deployment in Rivne Region is energy.

Mainly power supply.

Before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine’s total annual power generation reached 290 billion kWh. After the disintegration, due to economic collapse, the country’s total annual power generation plummeted to 170 billion kWh in 1994, a drop of 42%. At present, even in the capital Kiev area, there are often frequent power outages due to power shortages.

The demand for electricity in the foundry industry is huge, and Simon must first solve this problem.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine during the former Soviet Union made the entire Ukrainian people very resistant to nuclear power. When former President Leon Kravchuk encouraged Ukraine to leave the Soviet Union, he took advantage of this public sentiment. It is promised that Ukraine will gradually dismantle all nuclear power plants in the country.

Ukraine left the Soviet Union in 1991, and the Kravchuk authorities fulfilled their promises and immediately sealed the nuclear power plant projects under construction in the country, and planned to shut down and dismantle several nuclear power plants one after another.

However, as Ukraine’s economy takes a turn for the worse, the power generation of traditional thermal and hydroelectric power plants continues to plummet. Instead, the four nuclear power plants still operating in Ukraine can stably provide the country with about 50 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, occupying the current state. 30% of Ukraine's annual electricity generation.

Under this circumstance, not only the Ukrainian government, even the Ukrainian people, not many people mention the shutdown of nuclear power plants, otherwise more areas of the country will be plunged into darkness at night.

Not only that, just last year, the Kuchma authorities also lifted the nuclear power ban issued at the beginning of the understanding, and planned to re-complete some of the nuclear power units under construction that were previously sealed.

The construction cost of nuclear power plants is very expensive. The nuclear power units that were sealed up at the beginning have also invested a lot of money in the early stage. As long as they can be completed, they can provide the country with an additional 20 billion kWh of electricity per year.

However, the ban has been lifted. If the project is to be completed, the biggest problem is money.

The construction of nuclear power plants often requires billions of dollars in funding, and the current Ukrainian finances simply cannot afford this expenditure.

The other three nuclear power plants have nothing to do with the Westeros system. Simon is only concerned about the Rivne nuclear power plant.

The construction of the Rivne nuclear power plant was started in 1973. Initially, there were only two small 380 MW units. In 1980, Unit 3 was built and the power was increased to 950 MW. Unit 4, which was built in 1986, was also 950 MW. The first three units of the nuclear power plant have all been put into operation smoothly, generating approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity each year.

Because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Unit 4, which had been built for five years and was about to be completed, was sealed in 1991.

Not to mention the expensive operation and maintenance costs in the later period. At this stage, the complete construction cost of a single 950 MW unit is about 1.5 billion US dollars. Even though Unit 4 has been more than half completed, after several years of storage, I want to restart and install power generation. Equipment and turning on the reactor to achieve power supply also cost 500 million US dollars.

However, as long as Unit 4 is completed, an additional 5 billion kWh of power supply each year, coupled with the recovery of some local thermal power plants, can basically meet the needs of the Westeros system in Rivne Oblast in the next few years.

US$500 million is not a large sum of money for Simon, as it is for other international capital giants.

However, Ukraine signed an agreement last year to dismantle all domestic nuclear weapons, and only barely got 330 million U.S. dollars in compensation funds from the United States. Now Ukraine is such a mess. Unless it is driven by sufficient security and interests, no one wants to venture into such a situation. Investment in a country that may be at a loss.

The Westeros system happens to provide the Ukrainian government with much-needed guarantees.

Compared with last year's low-key, Simon brought a large team involved in all aspects to Ukraine this time.

In this visit to the Ronov nuclear power plant, in addition to the senior executives in the Westeros system, a consultant team from Westinghouse Electric and the investment investigation team from Credit Suisse's First Boston.

The former was invited by the Westeros system to conduct a series of technical assessments on Unit 4 of the Rivne nuclear power plant to confirm the feasibility and related risks of restarting construction.

The latter involves the financing of restarting Unit 4.

For Ukraine, Simon does not intend to monopolize the interests. Although the Westeros system is fully capable of providing all the expenses for the resumption of Unit 4 of the Rivne nuclear power plant, Simon still plans to match-up and allow Wall Street to help raise the funds by issuing bonds.

In addition, the head of the first Boston expedition team is Grace’s husband Bill Spoult.

This business is not too big for a Wall Street giant, but for individuals, if they can pull such a project, it is a good performance.

Bill Spurt is mainly responsible for the stock trading business of First Boston, but he himself is one of the two presidents of the securities trading department of this investment bank. In order to promote such a project, it is logical to extend his influence to the bond business.

In order to welcome Simon’s visit, Ukraine’s Minister of Energy Pavlo Lazarenko personally came forward, as well as the senior officials of the Ukrainian Nuclear Power Company, which manages Ukraine’s nuclear power business. Not only that, Simon also saw it in the welcome crowd. Another woman who can be described as the "Wind and Cloud", Yulia Tymoshenko.

Simon has no good feelings about these two people, but it does not prevent him and each other from talking and laughing along the way.

The crowd took a stroll around the inside of the nuclear power plant. At noon, they ate at a public restaurant for the employees of the nuclear power plant. Simon personally decided to entertain the senior management of the Rivne nuclear power plant.

At the end of the lunch, an assistant of Lazarenko mentioned to Girl A, hoping to return to Rivni to discuss follow-up matters.

In places like nuclear power plants, even if many facts show that there is no danger under normal circumstances, ordinary people will instinctively feel distressed.

Simon has no objection to this.

The long convoy left the Rivne nuclear power plant, probably to show the grandeur, and there were police cars clearing the way both front and rear, which looked very public. Of course, this kind of scene will certainly not appear on the local TV station of Rivne region that has been controlled by the Westeros system. The relevant news will only report that the Minister of Energy and overseas investors visit the Rivne nuclear power plant together. Simon has not always been. Will appear on the scene.

The Rivne region nuclear power plant is about 80 kilometers away from the city of Rivni, which is a fairly safe distance to some extent.

Take the United States as an example. The dozens of nuclear power plants on the east coast are actually within a hundred kilometers of the metropolitan area, but ordinary people will not have much idea about this after getting used to it.

In order to show importance, Simon continued to attend the cooperation meeting in the afternoon. Of course, he and Lazarenko are only finalizing the main cooperation framework, and the relevant persons in charge will continue to discuss the details.

In the roughly determined plan, after completing the technical evaluation of Unit 4 of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant, as long as the standards are met, the Westeros system will be responsible for helping the Ukrainian nuclear power company to issue a bond overseas for the use of Unit 4 Resumption of construction and power grid transformation project between the Rivne nuclear power plant and the city of Rivni.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon to end the talks.

A dinner was also arranged in the evening at the home of Sergey Komorov, the main spokesperson of the Westeros system in Ukraine.

After everyone separated, Simon temporarily returned to Chengnan Villa.

Because it was cloudy, Rivne had already darkened after four o'clock in the afternoon.

Back at the villa, took a shower, changed clothes and went downstairs. Just sitting down in a comfortable small living room on the first floor, Girl A walked in with a folder.

After dismissing the three girls who were snuggling around him like kittens, Simon smiled and asked, "How are things going?"

Alison did not sit down, but stood beside Simon and said, "The news has spread. Besides, boss, this is the list of the technical backbone of the Rivne State Nuclear Power Plant compiled by our people, Ms. Miller. During the negotiation with the head of the Ukrainian nuclear power company, we have also put forward our request to allow Uzbekistan Nuclear Power to form a stronger technical team to support the construction and subsequent maintenance of Unit 4 of the nuclear power plant."

The dinner at the Rivne nuclear power plant at noon was intentional by Simon.

After the luncheon, Simon asked people to release the news. The luncheon was arranged by Simon Westero. The Minister of Energy Lazarenko was very dissatisfied with the loss of status of dining with a group of employees.

The fact is also true.

The main reason for this is to win people's hearts.

Simon is actually a little confused about places like nuclear power plants. If it is not necessary, he will not go there.

When he proposed to visit the Rivne nuclear power plant in person, Simon's other important goal was actually a nuclear technical expert from Ukraine.

This time created the impression that Simon Westeros attaches great importance to talents. Coupled with some follow-up measures, the Westeros system can quietly win over a group of relevant talents.

The "Sword of Damocles Project" of the Westeros family has never stopped.

This kind of deep top secret, even for girl A, can't be easily told.

After listening to the report from Girl A, Simon accepted the document she handed over, without explaining anything. He was about to pat his thigh and let Alison, who was obviously starting to be a little emotional, sit and teach him. Celia Miller appeared at the door again. .

Seeing Girl A turned away without saying a word, Celia smiled and asked, "Am I disturbing you?"

Simon continued to pat his leg: "Obviously, you can fill the gap."

Celia turned her head and glanced, turned around and closed the door to the living room. Then she walked over and sat down on the man's lap, letting a pair of big hands wrap her waist, and said, "The Westinghouse team hopes to Won the power generation equipment order for Unit 4."

When Simon heard this, he stopped moving and asked: "Can Westinghouse's equipment be fully compatible with Ukrainian reactors? This nuclear power plant is meant to serve our industry and cannot be messed up."

Celia said: "I made a few more calls to consult. The problem is not big, but the key is the cost. Westinghouse's equipment is twice as expensive as Ukraine’s own construction. Of course, Westinghouse’s power generation efficiency will be higher. According to the data they gave, the equipment produced in Ukraine will have an annual output of about 5 billion kWh after completion, and Westinghouse’s equipment can increase efficiency by about 10%."

Simon said: "This is not a problem, as long as it proves feasible, how to deal with Uzbekistan nuclear power high-level and Lazarenko, this is the Westinghouse business."

Celia nodded: "I think so too."

Simon urged: "You can let people study this aspect. Don't believe Westinghouse's statement. Remember, our interests come first."

"I know."

Rivne Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4 wants to complete. Of the subsequent US$500 million investment, about US$300 million will be used for the procurement and installation of power generation equipment. If Westinghouse equipment is used, the price will double, and the total investment will also increase to 800 million US dollars.

As long as Westinghouse's equipment is complete and feasible, Simon is happy to see Uzbekistan nuclear power take on more debt.

The higher the debt, the stronger the dependence on the Westeros system.

Of course, the premise of everything must be that the plan is feasible.

Uzbekistan Nuclear Power wants to restart the construction of Unit 4 of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. Funding cannot bypass the guarantee of the Westeros system. Without Simon’s consent, no one would dare to invest in this project. Without money, Westinghouse didn't even think about doing business.

Therefore, the decision of the whole matter is actually in the hands of Simon.

Seeing Celia nodded, Simon thought for a moment, and then said: "Tell the people from Westinghouse that the breakthrough point is in Lazarenko. This is a very greedy person. So don't be stingy. Just get the other party and they will pay. You can make money back from this business."

Celia agreed, saying, "Where is our side."

Simon said: "I have asked Sergey to do it. You don't need to intervene in this matter. You don't need to know anything."

Celia understood that the man was considering this for herself, and nodded obediently.

In my memory, Lazarenko, who greatly influenced President Kuchma's career, was unscrupulous in terms of greed. Basically, if you don't give money, you don't want to do anything with him.

Of course, as long as the money is sufficient, what national interests are all clouded.

In the past, Lazarenko will be promoted from the position of Minister of Energy to Prime Minister of Ukraine next year. Because of the conflict with Kuchma and his bad reputation, he will quickly step down in one year.

Then, the former prime minister who stepped down immediately stood on the opposite side of Kuchma. After the two sides failed in the game, he fled overseas. His close partner Tymoshenko took over as the "people's fighter" and began to continue with the "corrupted library". The Chima authorities' struggle.

One news detail in my memory shows how greedy Lazarenko is.

After losing power, the pro-U.S. senior Ukrainian official fled to the U.S. seeking political asylum, but was arrested by federal authorities on charges of money laundering and other crimes. He paid up to 90 million US dollars in bail before and after. In the end, he still did not get out. Personal assets were also confiscated.

In order to get more refuge, you can usually get a pretty good ending with the used pieces.

It seems that Ukrainian chess pieces do not receive such treatment.

It can only be said that there are probably too many people willing to take refuge, and the oil and water are too fat.