KIEV, June 24 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine has no intention of giving up the imports of nuclear fuel from Russia, as Kiev will be guided by its economic interests in choosing a supplier, the Deputy Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine said Tuesday.
"We are not saying that we are giving up Russian fuel. The main question here is price. We are also not trying to say that we will work exlusively with either Russia or Westinghouse. We will work with those [suppliers] who provide the best conditions for Ukraine to ensure reliability, operational safety and economic conditions," Vadym Ulida told reporters.
In early June, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that Kiev will diversify the supplies of nuclear fuel by renewing the contract with the American company Westinghouse.
In late April, Ukraine’s national electricity agency Energoatom running all the operating nuclear power plants in the country, said it does not intend to renegotiate the terms of the contract with the Russian fuel supplier.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said in early April that Energoatom and Westinghouse may soon sign a contract to supply fuel to three Ukrainian nuclear reactors. Scheduled maintenance check-ups at a nuclear power plant in South Ukraine over the last two years uncovered technical issues with the US-produced fuel assembly, attributed to Westinghouse design flaws. The losses to the Ukrainian Energoatom company due to the incident topped $175 million.
Ukraine's Energy Ministry insists that Westinghouse has improved the design of its previous products, although experts see the decision of Kiev as a possible threat to nuclear safety in the region.
