LONDON (Reuters) – The newly-established Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom has said bid pre-qualification for companies interested in completing two unfinished nuclear power units will open this month, the nuclear news agency NucNet reported on Thursday.
Energoatom has applied for loans from Euratom and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to help finance the construction of the two units, which are estimated to be about 85 percent complete, NucNet said. Ukraine wants to put the units into operation at the Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear plants to compensate for the loss of power when Chernobyl is closed.
NucNet said completion would cost about $1.2 billion. The contract, which Energoatom hopes to award in December, would be co-financed by Euratom, the EBRD and the Export Credit Agency, under the EBRD's Export Credit Loan Arrangement Technique.
NucNet quoted the Ukrainian government as saying last week that Russia would provide $180 million towards completion of the two units and said this might affect the prospects for Western financial support via the EBRD.
