Energoatom, Ukraine's national nuclear power company, and Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB plan to sign a contract next week on supplies of nuclear fuel for three reactors, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said on Thursday.

"Work on signing a contract with Westinghouse, an alternative supplier of nuclear fuel to Ukraine, was virtually frozen the past two years. Next week, I hope, Energoatom will sign a contract with Westinghouse on the supply of nuclear fuel to charge three reactors," Prodan said at a press conference.

He also said work has been stepped up with Holtec International of the United States on the construction of a centralized dump for spent nuclear fuel.

"In this time [since the project was begun], there has been a substantial increase in the price of the contract, but we are now holding negotiations in order to find sources of financing. This is a very important project for Ukraine because we can get from Russia the spent fuel that was at one time shipped there for temporary storage," Prodan said.