OREANDA-NEWS. April 22, 2010. The Ukrainian Government approved a draft agreement with Russia concerning the cooperation in construction of two power units at Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant (NPP).

The approved agreement is a framework deal and sets terms and conditions of the joint work of the parties on the project. In particular, it envisages a Russian loan for the work, however, the document does not define the loan amount and allocation dates. This issue should be subject to a separate contract, according to Makukha.

A year ago, the Ukrainian Government invited Russia to participate in the construction completion of two new reactors at Khmelnitsky NPP site. The construction should start in 2010 and finish before 2016 yearend. Moscow may give Kyiv a USD 5-6bn loan to build the new reactors.

It worth noting that the Ukrainian Government approved the draft agreement at its Wednesday meeting, on the 21-st of April, the day before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Kharkov. The Russia’s President is expected to negotiate with his Ukrainian colleague on prices of the Russian natural gas. Meantime, Russian media earlier reported that the nuclear power cooperation would be included in the package of agreements, which Kiev is ready to sign with Moscow in exchange of a discount towards the Russian fuel prices.