Khmelnitsky completion agreement 'soon'

Friday, 1 May 2009

A Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreement on the resumption of work on two partially built nuclear reactors at Ukraine's Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant will soon be ready for signature, according to Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

 

Meeting of the PMs: Yulia Tymoshenko with Vladimir Putin during her visit to Russia (Image: www.kmu.gov.ua)

Speaking at a press conference at the end of a visit to Russia for a meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian governments' Committee on Economic Cooperation, Tymoshenko said that completion of the two units would require joint cooperation deals to be made with Russia.The two countries had now reached agreement on the project, including on the extension of Russian credit, Tymoshenko said.

 

"We have agreed to complete in synergy these two power-generating units … in such a way that all Russian works completed by Russian enterprises will be credited by the Russian party," Tymoshenko told the conference, adding that any components supplied from Ukraine for the project would be financed from the Ukrainian budget. Previous reports have suggested that up to 85% of the project could be financed through Russian loans.

Tymoshenko said that work would now begin on an intergovernmental agreement on the project, after which construction could begin. According to some press reports, Tymoshenko mentioned 15 July as the date the agreement between the two countries would be ready.

Fuel agreements signed

At the same conference, Tymoshenko said that the countries had also signed agreements securing Ukraine's nuclear fuel supply for 2009-2010 at favourable rates. "We have signed all the agreements on supplies of nuclear fuel to Ukraine, for Ukrainian nuclear power stations and we have agreed on the lower price as compared to the previous period," she said.

Ukraine generates almost half its electricity from its 15 operating nuclear reactors, all Russian-designed pressurised water reactors. This includes two units at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant. Work on the third and fourth Khmelnitsky units stopped in 1990 when they were respectively 75% and 28% complete. The Ukrainian government announced in September 2008 that construction would resume in 2010 for completion in 2016 and 2017.