The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) intends to issue Breach of Contract for Capital Markets political risk insurance (BOC Coverage) for the $250 million loan raised by National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom via Central Storage Safety Project Trust (Delaware) to develop and build the central spent nuclear fuel storage facility. According to a posting on the OPIC’s website, the project is pending approval of the Board of Directors on September 14, 2017.
According to the document, this is a form of expropriation coverage that insures against the risks of nonpayment of an arbitral award by Energoatom and the government of Ukraine and denial of justice by the government of Ukraine. Private market political risk insurance is not available for this project on terms sufficient for the project’s viability, OPIC said.
US procurement associated with this project is for storage, transfer and transportation canisters, engineering services, labor, and related equipment being supplied by Holtec International. The total project cost is around $410 million. The spent nuclear fuel storage capabilities created by the project will help reduce Ukraine’s reliance on Russia for this service. Once fully operational, the project will store an estimated 169,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel per year on average. The project will result in almost $50 million in annual avoided costs for Energoatom.
