Ukraine in Jan buys nuclear fuel from Russia alone

Ukraine in January 2019 imported 14,903 tonnes of fuel assemblies for its nuclear power plants from the Russian Federation alone.

The said nuclear fuel imports totaled US$17.436 million, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

Read alsoRussia accounts for over 70% of fuel assemblies bought by Ukraine for its nuclear power plants in 2018

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine in 2018 imported fuel assemblies totaling $523.2 million, with a 70% share of nuclear fuel imports from Russia.

As part of diversifying the sources of nuclear fuel supplies for its nuclear power plants and reducing its dependence on one source, Russia's TVEL company, Ukraine's state-owned Energoatom in April 2014 signed an agreement with Westinghouse, which produces fuel at its plant in Sweden.

In late January 2018, Energoatom and Westinghouse extended the supply contract until 2025.

To date, the Swedish fuel is used at Zaporizhia and Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plants.

UNIAN memo. Energoatom is Ukraine's largest electricity producer, accounting for about 50% of the country's overall power output. Energoatom is responsible for the safe operation of the country's nuclear power plants.

Ukraine ranks seventh globally in terms of the installed capacity of its nuclear power generating units. Energoatom operates four nuclear power plants across Ukraine with a total of 15 power generating units, all with VVER-type reactors. Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, operating six power units with a total capacity of 6 GW, is Europe's largest.