Nuclear power in Europe

KIEV, Oct. 7 – The general contractor to build reactors three and four at the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant will be Russia's ZAO Atomstroiexport, a source in the Fuel and Energy Ministry told Interfax-Ukraine.

"The interagency tender commission on the selection of the type of generating units for reactors three and four at the Khmelnytsky NPP has finished its work. After studying proposals from Atomstroiexport, South Koera's ÊÅÐÑÎ and U.S. company Westinghouse, the commission said that the Russian project was the best," the source said.

KIEV, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's government has proposed allocating 450 million hryvnias ($90 million) in next year's budget to set up a strategic nuclear fuel reserve, the country's UNIAN new agency said.

"I think we will start gradually forming a fuel reserve next year," Yuri Nedashkovsky, head of state nuclear power utility Energoatom, was quoted as saying on Thursday.

He said the allocation had been included in the draft budget for 2009.

Turkey received six envelopes in the tender for the construction of the first nuclear power plant but only one of them was a bid, the general manager of Turkey's Electricity Trade Corp (TETAS) said Wednesday.

Haci Duran Gokkaya said Russian Atomstroyexport is the sole bidder of the tender, adding the rest of the submitted envelopes were expressions of thanks.

ANKARA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday there was no plan to postpone a tender to build and operate Turkey's first nuclear power plant, scheduled for Wednesday.

Turkey has set a deadline of Sept. 24 for bids to build the plant at Akkuyu near Mersin on the Mediterranean coast with a capacity of 4,000 megawatts, plus or minus 25 percent.