Boiko: Ukraine hopes to sign loan agreement with Euroatom by 2013 to improve safety at NPPs

Ukraine expects to sign a loan agreement with the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in late 2012 to improve the safety of the country's nuclear power plants (NPP), Ukraine's Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boiko said on Inter television channel on Friday.

"We will sign the loan with Euroatom at the end of the year and will invest around $1 billion within next two years into improving the safety of our nuclear power plants. They have already passed all tests, but we are moving forward to make them the most modern plants in the world," the minister said.

At the same time, Boiko did not specify the amount of the loan.

As reported, Euratom and EBRD earlier planned to provide financing of up to EUR 300 million each to the state-run nuclear power operator Energoatom for safety upgrades at Ukrainian NPPs.

The Ukrainian government by cabinet resolution No. 1270 of December 7, 2011 approved a comprehensive program to increase the safety of reactors of NPPs for 2012-2017 totally worth UAH 12.453 billion. According to the document, sources of the program financing will be loans from the EBRD and Euratom worth UAH 8 billion (EUR 765.8 million) and own funds of Energoatom – UAH 4.453 billion (EUR 426.3 million).

UAH 1.773 billion of Energoatom's funds will be sent to finance the program in 2012 and UAH 41 million of funds from the EBRD and Euratom, UAH 620 million and UAH 1.859 billion respectively in 2013, UAH 580 million and UAH 1.08 billion in 2014, UAH 550 million and UAH 1.24 billion in 2015, UAH 480 million and UAH 1.63 billion in 2016 and UAH 450 million and UAH 2.15 billion in 2017.

Energoatom operates all four of the nuclear power stations in Ukraine, with fifteen generating units outfitted with water-cooled fast-breeder reactors with an installed generating capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.