Ukraine's Finance Ministry is discussing a project to raise a $250 million loan to build the central spent nuclear fuel storage facility with the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk has said.

"The participation of the Finance Ministry in the project is key for attracting the financing at the more favorable conditions for Energoatom. We are working on the launch of the project in the future on the mutually beneficial conditions," he wrote on his Facebook page after a meeting with OPIC President Ray Washburne in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"It is important for use to shape a model that could be typical for other OPIC projects," he said.

The minister also said that the potential cooperation in the energy sector, in particular, the oil and gas sector, was discussed at the meeting.

As reported, Energoatom seeks to raise $250 million from Bank of America Merrill Lynch by October 2017 to build the facility. Currently the company is financing the works using the funds included in its tariff for electricity transmission.

On August 23, 2017, OPIC said that it intends to issue Breach of Contract for Capital Markets political risk insurance (BOC Coverage) for the $250 million loan raised by Energoatom via Central Storage Safety Project Trust (Delaware) to develop and build the central spent nuclear fuel storage facility. The project is pending approval of the Board of Directors on September 14, 2017. OPIC said that this is a form of expropriation coverage that insures against the risks of nonpayment of an arbitral award OPIC by Energoatom and the government of Ukraine and denial of justice by the government of Ukraine.

U.S. procurement associated with this project is for storage, transfer and transportation canisters, engineering services, labor, and related equipment being supplied by Holtec International. The total project cost is around $410 million. Once fully operational, the project will store an estimated 169,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel per year on average. The project will result in almost $50 million in annual avoided costs for Energoatom.

According to Interfax-Ukraine's information, the Finance Ministry of Ukraine also could secure the project to cheapen the cost of the loan.