OREANDA-NEWS. June 06, 2008. 69 projects out of 74 were implemented over 14-year-long fulfillment of the US International Nuclear Safety Program (INSP) aimed at strengthening Ukrainian NPPs safety, reported the Official website www.kmu.gov.ua.

Financing amounted to USD 300 million, acting president of the Nuclear Energy Generating Company (NNEGC) Energoatom Danko Biley said after a meeting with a coordination committee of the NNEGC Energoatom and the US Department of Energy on the occasion of INSP implementation.

Implementing the projects within the program allowed Ukraine for increasing safety of its NPPs significantly, Biley stressed.

According to Director of the Office of Policy and International Affairs of the US Department of Energy Bob Boudreau, all problems faced by Ukrainian and US experts during cooperation within the INSP are solved. The US party considers this program to be perfectly fulfilled and being "the best use of our money", the representative of the Department of Energy noted.

"Having completed the program we start a cooperation stage after the assistance stage,' Boudreau stressed.

INSP was implemented on the basis of the Agreement of the Ukrainian and US governments on operation safety strengthening, reducing operating risk level and civilian nuclear facilities regulatory systems reinforcing.

The US government assigned over USD 296 million for implementing the program.

All the NPPs were provided with control systems of power-generating unit essential safety functions. Besides, two projects on physical protection modernization at Khmelnytskiy NPP were fulfilled. A similar project is supposed to be finished this year at Zaporizhzhya NPP.

At present, a project entitled "Nuclear Fuel Qualification for Ukraine" is being implemented. This project aims to solve a strategic issue for Ukraine - diversification of nuclear power supplies.