KIEV, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Energoatom, Ukraine’s national nuclear power company, and Westinghouse Electric Sweden have agreed to extend a contract on supplies of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants till 2020.
Fuel will be produced at the Westinghouse nuclear fuel factory in Vasteras, Sweden.
The contract will allow the Ukrainian company to promote diversification of fuel supplies, Westinghouse Electric Company Chief Executive Officer Danny Roderick has said.
In 2000 Energoatom and Westinghouse launched a project for diversifying nuclear fuel supplies.
In March 2008 the companies signed a contract to supply nuclear fuel for three to 6 VVER-1000 reactors.
TVEL fuel company, Russia’s manufacturer of nuclear fuel, is the major fuel supplier for Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
On April 10, head of Russian state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko said if Ukraine’s choice of US nuclear company Westinghouse to deliver fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants was a political decision this might pose a threat to safety and security.
“We take positively any competition and still win in a competitive rivalry. Only one aspect is important that the nuclear industry has the absolute security priority. Therefore, it is the top priority so that all decisions will be taken proceeding from thought-out technological, technical and commercial conditions,” he said.
“It is desirable that political conditions will not be involved in this issue. If the nuclear industry begins to take decisions for political reasons, this already poses a threat,” Kiriyenko said.