Energoatom hopes regulator will green light allocating UAH 500mln for waste nuclear fuel
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has expressed hope that the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) will agree to finance the realization of a project to build a central waste nuclear fuel facility in 2015 in the amount of UAH 500 million, Energoatom President Yuriy Nedashkovsky has said.
"The NCER reserved a rather large sum – over UAH 500 million. This is Holtec's needs for this year," he told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He said that the funds will be unblocked by the regulator for them to be used by Energoatom after the submission of the relevant feasibility study. Nedashkovsky believes that Energoatom has provided enough arguments on the justifiability of the use of these funds to the regulator.
He said that the company has sent the first part of the advance payment to Holtec under the project.
Nedashkovsky expressed hope that the commission would make the relevant decision by the end of this year.
In order to reduce waste related to the transportation of spent nuclear fuel, in 2003 Energoatom announced an international tender to select a company to build a centralized dry waste storage area for waste nuclear fuel from the Yuzhnoukrainsk, Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear plants (Zaporizhia NPP already has its own waste nuclear fuel storage facility on site). The tender was won by Holtec International (the United States) in late 2005. In December 2005 Energoatom signed a contract to design, license and build the storage facility.
The companies signed a supplementary agreement on January 26, 2015, under which Energoatom will design and build the facility, while Holtec will supply equipment.
Holtec International is considering producing some equipment for the centralized waste nuclear fuel facility at the production facilities of public joint-stock company Turboatom (Kharkiv).