TVEL (Rosatom’s fuel division) has received no official notice from Ukraine that the agreement to construct a nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the country has been canceled, says a press release of the Russian company. “We have not received official notifications from Ukraine in confirmation of such plans,” says TVEL’s representative. According to TVEL, the Russian stakeholder has performed all of its obligations without fail although the project has been halted for the last two years due to the lack of finance from Ukraine. “There is no other barrier for the project to move ahead,” says a source in TVEL.
According to the recent media reports, Vladimir Demchishin, the Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, confirmed plans to cancel the agreement to construct a nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the Kirovograd Region. The Minister said that Russia did not allegedly perform its obligation. Alexander Merten, President of Rusatom International Network, said earlier that Rosatom had sent inquiries about the future status of the joint project and was awaiting an official response from Ukraine.
As of today, the project design is ready and the site is prepared for the construction to start. Moreover, equipment for the fabrication facility has been produced in Novosibirsk at Russia’s expense, but the project is still frozen.
The nuclear fuel fabrication facility would have been built in a village of Smolino in the Kirovograd Region (Ukraine). This was a major Russian-Ukrainian project in nuclear energy. Stakes in the joint venture operating the project are held by TVEL (50% minus one share) and Ukraine’s Yaderne Palivo (Nuclear Fuel) Company (50% plus one share). The parties agreed to contribute nearly 120 million US dollars in equal amounts, with the rest of finance to be obtained from Sberbank Russia. Total project costs were initially estimated at around 462.5 million US dollars. A contribution of 20 million US dollars was made in 2012. Another USD42m contribution was to be made by TVEL after the issue of additional shares in 2013, but failed since the Ukrainian shareholder did not finance its part.
