The US Trade and Development Agency announced it will support Ukrainian authorities to assess NuScale's small reactor technology, with a view to future exports. A gap analysis will compare the technology to the Ukrainian regulatory system to identify potential problems and make recommendations.

A contract signed by the Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom and US vendor Westinghouse will trigger the engineering and procurement of components for the first of several AP1000s planned for Ukraine. The country is planning as much as 11 GWe of new build by 2040.

The US Department of Energy is funding an independent review by a technical advisory body to Ukraine's nuclear regulator of the NuScale Power Module Safety Analysis Report. This review will be made available to any utility in Ukraine interested in deploying NuScale Power's small modular reactor technology.

Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator, Energoatom, is conducting the final pre-commissioning trials of the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The company's acting president recently inspected simulation tests of the removal of nuclear fuel from unit 3 of the Rovno nuclear power plant using technology supplied by Holtec International of the USA. The transfer of fuel to the CSFSF is scheduled to begin next year.

Work has already started to complete Ukraine's Khmelnitsky 3 using AP1000 technology. Engineers from Westinghouse are at the site, taking stock and considering how to complete the unique project, according to plant owner Energoatom.

Final testing is underway at the facility which will receive, process and dispose of solid radioactive waste from the decommissioning of Chernobyl. "This is a very important event," said the acting director general of Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Valery Seyda. "The last 'long-term construction' at the site is finally moving towards completion."

Work on Ukraine's first AP1000 project could begin before the end of this year, the acting president of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, has said. The first project would be completion of Khmelnitsky 4, using unused parts from the cancelled VC Summer project in the USA.

Energoatom of Ukraine has had its bank accounts seized by the country's Ministry of Justice over a relatively small debt from 2011. The company called the action "sabotage against the state", as the union of nuclear power workers prepares to protest outside the ministry.

Westinghouse Electric Company and Ukrainian company NT-Engineering LLC have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to implement maintenance optimisation and system repair projects for VVER reactors. They said the work will increase the safety levels and performance of Ukrainian VVERs, improving annual power output and reducing operational costs.

Completion of unit 4 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant in Ukraine will be accelerated by the use of major plant components in storage since the construction of new reactors at VC Summer in the USA was cancelled. The head of Energoatom toured Westinghouse warehouses to inspect the condition of the AP1000 components.

Energoatom of Ukraine will explore the possible deployment of NuScale small modular reactors to replace fossil fuel plants, according to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the companies. It is the latest in a series of agreements on energy signed during the visit of a Ukrainian delegation to the USA.

Ukraine and the USA have agreed to "deepen and intensify" their strategic cooperation in energy. Nuclear power leads a suite of agreements with a project to complete Khmelnitsky unit 4, followed up with four new AP1000 units at a total value of USD30 billion.