Ukraine plans to sign an agreement to construct new nuclear power reactors by the end of this year, Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the country's cabinet of ministers today.
"The problem is that the [planned] units were designed according to Russian reactors, but we are finding a solution and intend to sign an agreement on the construction of new units by the end of this year," Yatsenyuk said, according to Russian news agency Itar-Tass.
Nuclear power accounts for about half of Ukraine's electricity generation, he said. For that reason, Ukraine's government signed a contract with Westinghouse to supply nuclear fuel to the country's nuclear power plants.
"We are starting to get nuclear fuel not only from Russia," he said.
In early June, Yatsenyuk said that Kiev will diversify the supplies of nuclear fuel by renewing its contract with Westinghouse. Ukraine buys nuclear fuel from Russia's TVEL and US firm Westinghouse, majority owned by Japan's Toshiba.
Yuri Nedashkovskiy, president of Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, said in July that Ukraine's cabinet of ministers has a "completely new attitude" towards nuclear power and supports the idea of building new reactors using technology "of Western design."
Yatsenyuk formed a new government after protests that began in 2013 and culminated in the dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych in February.