National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has signed a contract with Orano (earlier Areva, France) to assess the possibility of the practical implementation of services to reprocess spent nuclear fuel assemblies from Ukrainian reactors of VVER-1000 type at the French La Hague Reprocessing Plant. “This contract marks an important step for Orano. It is a real success for us. It will pave a way for treating Ukrainian spent nuclear fuel by the French reprocessing sector,” the press service of Energoatom reported, citing Senior Executive Vice President of Orano’s Recycling Business Unit Pascal Aubret.
Energoatom said that after producing electricity in a power reactor, the spent fuel contains 96% of recyclable materials and 4% of final waste. The process implemented at Orano’s La Hague plant separates the reusable materials, which will once again be used to produce energy, from the final waste which undergoes safe and stable conditioning and packaging.
According to an announcement of Energoatom in the ProZorro e-procurement system, the cost of the contract signed with Orano Cycle is EUR 1.395 million. The company is to finish the study before December 31, 2020.
At present, Energoatom sends spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing to the Russian Federation. At the same time, there is the problem of handling VVER-1000 spent fuel from Westinghouse. So, while carrying out research on the possibility of processing Westinghouse spent nuclear fuel, information about the design of fuel assemblies is used. Westinghouse agreed to provide relevant information only to Areva.
Ukraine increased electricity exports 18.3% in January-March 2018 year-on-year to 1.596 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has told Interfax-Ukraine. Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn thermal power plant energy island in the direction of Hungary, Slovakia and Romania for the three month grew 0.9% compared to January-March 2017, to 1.026 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland rose 27.6%, to 423.327 million kWh. Ukraine exported 146.218 million kWh to Moldova in January-March 2018 compared to nil a year earlier.
No electricity was exported to Belarus or Russia in January-March 2018 or January-March 2017.
In March 2018, exports of Ukrainian electricity totaled 563.7 million kWh, which is 49.6% more than in March 2017.
Ukraine imported 8.92 million kWh of electricity in January-March 2018 (of which 8.559 million kWh from Russia and 0.361 million kWh from Belarus) versus 11.6 million kWh in the same period last year. Energomarket contracts account for the imports as technological transfers.
EXPORTS, HUNGARY, IMPORTERS, MOLDOVA, POLAND, ROMANIA, SLOVAKIA
State-owned public joint-stock company Ukrbud Construction Company, part of the Ukrbud State Construction Corporation (all based in Kyiv), saw a 12.4% rise in net profit in 2017, to UAH 6.8 million. According to a company’s annual report under IFRS, net revenue grew by 46.4%, to UAH 445.2 million, gross profit tripled, to UAH 98.3 million, and operating profit grew six-fold, to UAH 44.1 million.
Undistributed profit grew by 28.8%, to UAH 18.5 million. Current liabilities shrank by 35%, to UAH 256.2 million and the company did not have non-current liabilities. Ukrbud Construction Company was founded by the Ukrainian government in 2004.
Chinese Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE), which last year became the owner of the Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is mulling the possibility of buying over 25% of shares in public joint-stock company PFTS stock exchange. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine reported that BOCE (Hong Kong) Co., Limited asked the committee to present the preliminary conclusions on the acquisition of the stake in the Ukrainian exchange.
As reported, BOCE (Hong Kong) Co., Limited at the end of November 2016 won at the auction of the State Property Fund of Ukraine for the sale of 99.9% of UBRD shares being in state property. The final selling price was UAH 82.83 million.
The contract for the sale and purchase of shares was signed on June 8, 2017 and in early July China’s BOCE completed the payment of shares purchased at the privatization auction.