KIEV, Dec. 26 - EnergoAtom, the state company responsible for managing Ukraine's four nuclear power plants, said Monday it signed a contract with a U.S. firm for the development of a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.

Energoatom said the $152 million deal with the U.S. company Holtec International foresees the development of a facility where spent nuclear fuel rods from Ukrainian nuclear power plants will be stored before being sent for reprocessing in Russia.