This was announced by Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin at the International Conference "Nuclear Opportunities for the Country's Development: Wartime and Postwar Reconstruction" organised by the company on October 15.
He clarified that there is no need to build our own line to produce fuel for VVER-440, as Ukraine has only two such units, and Westinghouse's capacity, the first fuel of which was loaded at RNPP-2 in September last year, is sufficient to meet its needs.
As for the construction of its own line, he added that Energoatom is considering three locations for this purpose, but did not disclose which ones. He also did not name the scope of the project yet.
According to Westinghouse Business Development Manager Oleksandr Rykhlo, the construction of a technological complex for the manufacture of fuel assemblies for VVER-1000 reactors is an important and logical project of the company with Energoatom.
In a conversation with journalists, O. Rykhlo noted that Westinghouse is working to replace Russian fuel not only in Ukraine but also in Europe.
"Westinghouse continues to destroy the Russian monopoly in other European countries, because today a large number of Soviet-designed reactors are in operation in Europe, in particular, VVER-100 and VVER-440. For example, they are operated by Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Hungary, and today most of these countries have already achieved considerable success in diversifying their fuel supply and have signed agreements with us. Some countries, such as Bulgaria, have already started loading fuel this year. And other countries are moving towards loading fuel that is alternative to Russian fuel," he commented on the situation.
He reiterated that pilot batches of Westinghouse fuel were loaded in Ukraine back in 2005 and proved their compatibility with reactors and operational reliability.
Regarding the results of the operation of VVER-440 fuel at RNPP-2, O. Rykhlo noted that it is successful, and Westinghouse confirms its intention to load all units of Ukrainian NPPs with its fuel.
In June 2022, Energoatom and Westinghouse signed an agreement to supply nuclear fuel for all Ukrainian NPPs.
