Kiev Borrows $260Mln From US to Build Nuclear Waste Repository

Kiev has taken out a loan from the US for the construction of a repository for spent nuclear fuel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

KIEV (Sputnik) — Kiev has taken out a $260-million loan from the United States for the construction of a repository for spent nuclear fuel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Igor Nasalik said Thursday.

"We have finally signed the loan agreement during a trip to the United States for $260 million for the construction of a dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, which will be built on the territory of [the former] Chernobyl [nuclear power plant]," Nasalik said.

The storage facility, which will be constructed with the participation of the US company Holtec International, is expected to become operational in 2018.

Ukraine transports spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing and storage to Russia, paying $150-200 million annually for the service. For this reason, Kiev decided to build its own nuclear waste repository for spent nuclear fuel.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened in late April 1986 in the then-Ukrainian Soviet Republic. The catastrophe heavily contaminated neighboring areas, which now form an exclusion zone. Fallout from the disaster also affected areas in Belarus, Russia and the Baltic region.