U.S. Businessman Hopes For Ukrainian Approval For Nuclear Storage Facility

MARLTON, NJ -- The head of an American company expressed hope for government and parliamentary approval for a planned storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, saying it would ease Ukraine's reliance on Russia.

A Holtec Cask awaiting nuclear fuel loading in the Cask Loading Pit
Kris Singh, president of Marlton, New Jersey-based Holtec International, also said the company is prepared to offer a multimillion-dollar loan to implement the project.

Holtec signed a contract for the US$152 million (Euro 127 million) project with Ukraine's state-run atomic energy company Energoatom in December, but it needs approval by the government and parliament.

"This project is critical for your country ... because it strengthens your national sovereignty, prevents the payment of outlandish fees for temporary storage of fuel abroad," Singh told reporters in the capital, Kyiv.

Currently, Ukraine pays Russia some US$100 million (Euro 83 million) annually for storage and reprocessing.

Singh said his company is "ready to give an up to US$100 million" (Euro 83 million) in loans toward the project.

Singh said he hopes for parliamentary approval by June, but that parliamentary elections later this month could mean delays.

He also dismissed criticism from former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who said last month that the project threatened Ukraine's energy security and warned of the creation of an "international burial ground" for nuclear waste from many countries.

Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded in 1986, spewing radiation over much of northern Europe. Chernobyl was shut for good in 2000, but Ukraine has four operation nuclear power plants.

Source: AP