KIEV, July 23. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday announced a tender for a project to build a central storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The facility to be built in an area of 45 hectares within the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is to be completed by the end of 2017. The tender has been announced by the state-owned company Energoatom, which operates all nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

By implementing the project Kiev is hoping to increase its energy independence from Russia where Ukraine is supplying spent nuclear fuel for temporary storage. In the future, Ukraine should take it back.

There are three effective contracts between Energoatom and Russian companies on services related to spent nuclear fuel from Ukrainian nuclear power plants.