Russia signs deal with Ukraine on finishing Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED June 10, 2010

Russia has signed a deal with Ukraine on the completion of the third and fourth power units at Ukraine's Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant, Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian atomic energy firm Rosatom, said on Wednesday.

Rosatom estimates the project will cost $5-6 billion. Kiriyenko previously said the funds for the completion of the plant's construction would be allocated by Russia.

The deal was agreed at a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Sochi on April 30, 2010.

Yanukovych requested Russian help with finance for the construction of two units at the Khmelnytsky and Rovno nuclear power plants at a meeting with Putin in Istanbul on Tuesday.

"This is an important first step," Kiriyenko said, adding that a renaissance in world nuclear power engineering was currently underway.

Kiriyenko said at the signing ceremony on Wednesday that Ukraine was a leader in nuclear power production, but had not built nuclear power plants for a long time.

Construction of the Khmelnytsky plant began in 1981. The first power unit was launched into operation in 1987 and the second in 2004.

Atomstroyexport, the Rosatom export arm, won a tender in October 2008 for construction of the plant's third and fourth units.

Topics: NPP, East Europe, Ukraine, Russia

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