Ukraine eyes Westinghouse nuclear fuel deal
Kiev would like to purchase additional Westinghouse nuclear fuel for 13 of its reactors.
KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine said on Tuesday it would sign an additional nuclear fuel supply deal with US giant Westinghouse in order to ease its energy dependence on Russia.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said a contract between the Westinghouse Electric Company and Ukraine s Energoatom state nuclear power provider would be sealed later on Tuesday in Brussels.
He gave no other details. The two sides had earlier this year extended their existing cooperation agreement through 2020.
A top Energoatom official said this month that Kiev would like to purchase additional Westinghouse nuclear fuel for 13 of its reactors.
Westinghouse currently supplies fuel for only one of Ukraine s 15 operating units -- the third reactor of the South Ukranian Nuclear Power Plant that is located 300 kilometres (185 miles) south of Kiev.
Ukranian media said Energoatom and the US firm had been cooperating on nuclear fuel supplies since 2000.
The former Soviet republic had previously relied on Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia have sunk to an historic low as a result of this year s ouster in Kiev of a Moscow-backed president and the subsequent pro-Kremlin rebellion in the country s industrial east.
Ukraine is also seeking to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas in the wake of a months-long cut in supplies -- the second in five years.
