The approval came after the Russian nuclear equipment and services exporter Atomstroyexport, won a tender to complete construction of the Khmelnitsky NPP project, which was frozen in 1990 over fears following the Chernobyl nuclear tragedy.
"A transparent discussion on the tender has taken place and there is no criticism, the procedure itself was transparent," the agency quoted Yuriy Prodan, the country's fuel and energy minister.
The tender was announced in March 2008 and five companies were invited to participate, including Russia's Atomstroyexport, Skoda from the Check Republic, Avera from France and Germany, Westinghouse from the U.S. and the Korea Electric Power Corp. from South Korea.
Yury Nedashkovsky, head of state nuclear power utility Energoatom, said that 85% of the proposed $4 billion project would be financed through a Russian loan with 15% funding coming from Ukraine. The loan is expected to be repaid six months after the reactors go into service.
