KIEV, June 14. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Energoatom, the operator of the country’s nuclear power plants (NPPs), is negotiating with a foreign company in a bid to diversify its nuclear fuel supplies that currently come from Russia and the United States.

Currently, Ukrainian nuclear power plants operate using fuel elements from US company Westinghouse and Russia’s TVEL.

"A third possible supplier appeared last year. We are currently studying their proposals. So far, those proposals (are) at the initial stages of discussion. We still have only two suppliers," Energoatom president Yuri Nedashkovsky said.

He gave no further details, including the company’s name or the country of origin.

The Kiev government has repeatedly stated its intention to diversify nuclear fuel supplies for its NPPs in a bid to reduce the dependence on Russian-made elements.

Russia’s TVEL remains the leader in nuclear fuel supplies to Ukraine, with sales worth $386.8 million last year, compared to $162 million by Westinghouse. However, the share of Russian-made elements declined by 36.7% last year, while US supplies grew fivefold.

In total, Ukraine has four NPPs with 15 reactors in operation.