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The
agreement also increases the number of new nuclear units
Westinghouse will build to nine from an earlier five, and the
company will establish an engineering centre in the country.
Ukraine has four working nuclear power stations, the largest of
which, in Zaporizhzhia, fell under Russian control days after
the Russian invasion began in February but is still operated by
Ukrainian technicians.
Building on earlier agreements, the deal with Westinghouse
stipulates that the company will supply fuel to all of Ukraine's
atomic plants.
Nuclear power covers around a half of all Ukrainian electricity
needs and the energy minister said that in future Ukraine could
also be a supplier of electricity to western Europe.
"We will modernise our fleet of nuclear power units, which will
produce clean, safe and reliable energy without any Russian
influence," Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said, according
to a statement by the state atomic energy company Energoatom.
Energoatom on Thursday denied a report that it might shut down
the Zaporizhzhia plant if Kyiv loses control of operations at
the site.
Ukraine has repeatedly raised safety concerns about the plant
since Russia's invasion began on Feb. 24. On Friday, it warned
that it was running out of spare parts.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; writing by Matthias Williams;
editing by Barbara Lewis)
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