MOSCOW, August 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s nuclear fuel company TVEL supplied about $100 million worth of nuclear fuel to Ukraine in July 2014, its parent company, Rosatom, said on Wednesday.

In the first seven months of 2014, Ukraine increased nuclear fuel import from Russia by 73.4% year on year to 389 million tonnes, Rosatom spokesperson Sergei Novikov said, adding that the actual supplies to Ukraine had not increased but were uneven during the reporting period due to the reloading schedules at Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Ukraine imports about $600 million worth of nuclear fuel from Russia on the average annually, which is comparable with the indicators reported in first half of 2014 (279 million tonnes).

In January-July 2014, Ukraine imported $389 million worth of nuclear fuel from Russia, an increase of 73.4% from the same period of last year.

According to Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service, nuclear fuel imports from Russia increased by 61.3% in physical terms to 231 tonnes from 143.2 tonnes a year earlier.

In July, Ukraine imported $101.5 million worth of nuclear fuel from Russia.

TVEL is the Russian producer of nuclear fuel. It is a member of a vertically integrated holding company that consolidates the assets of Russia's civilian segment of the nuclear industry. TVEL is one of the key world manufacturers of nuclear fuel (17% of the global market). The company integrates large Russian enterprises specializing in natural uranium mining, nuclear fuel production, supplies, scientific and engineering support to nuclear power plants in Russia, in the CIS and foreign countries. This is an advanced and dynamically developing company, which ranks among the 20 largest production associations of Russia.

Nuclear power occupies one of the most prominent places in the Ukrainian economy. Over recent years, having only 22.8% of the installed capacity, nuclear power plants during autumn and winter maximum loads generated about 53% of the country's electricity. Currently there are 15 operating power units at four Ukrainian NPPs.

They are operated by the state-run company Energoatom.