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US Westinghouse gives no confirmation of decision to build nuclear fuel plant in Ukraine

Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Nasalik earlier announced that Westinghouse and Kiev had reached a deal on building a nuclear fuel factory in Ukraine

© ITAR-TASS/Evgeniy Kurskov/archive

KIEV, August 16. /TASS/. The US-based Westinghouse has not confirmed a decision to finance the construction of a nuclear fuel factory in Ukraine as was previously announced by Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Igor Nasalik.

As Westinghouse Vice-President and Managing Director for Northern and Eastern Europe Aziz Dag told Deutsche Welle publication, surplus capacities for nuclear fuel production can be observed in the world at present and, therefore, the construction of a new factory won’t bring any considerable economic benefits for the country.

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At the same time, Westinghouse has promised to consider investing in a new factory. In this regard, Dag noted that if the country decided to make such an investment, Westinghouse would consider the possibility of its participation in the project.

As Deutsche Welle reports, the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry could not confirm either the availability of any specific accords with Westinghouse, saying only that "the Ukrainian side is holding negotiations with potential investors for the possible financial support for this project."

At the same time, the ministry confirmed the intention to produce fuel for nuclear power plants on Ukrainian soil to eventually make its domestic fabrication the sole source for Ukraine’s NPPs, excluding deliveries from Westinghouse and Russia’s TVEL nuclear fuel company.

Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Nasalik earlier announced that Westinghouse and Kiev had reached a deal on building a nuclear fuel factory in Ukraine.

According to the minister, the sides also agreed that the US company would supply nuclear fuel for more than a half of reactors at Ukrainian NPPs. Before that, Kiev planned to build a nuclear fuel plant in the Kirovograd Region in partnership with Russia but later dropped these plans.

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