Ukraine says to import nuclear fuel from France

Ukraine's state nuclear power company Energoatom said Friday that it has signed an agreement with French energy conglomerate AREVA on supplies of enriched uranium for Ukraine's nuclear reactors.

"This contract is a real step towards diversification of supplies of nuclear materials for Ukrainian nuclear power plants," Yuri Nedashkovsky, the head of Energoatom, was quoted by the company's press service as saying.

AREVA won the tender to supply Ukraine with nuclear fuel because it has "minimized the risks for Energoatom and offered attractive pricing policy", Energoatom's press service said in a statement, without disclosing details and timelines of the contract.

Currently, Ukraine imports enriched uranium from the Russian state-owned fuel group TVEL and the U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company.

Ukraine, where nuclear energy accounts for over half of power generation, heavily depends on nuclear fuel for its 15 reactors in four nuclear power plants. Endi