18 Aug (NucNet): Russia’s nuclear fuel company TVEL, a subsidiary of state nuclear power company Rosatom, is ready to deliver equipment for the production of nuclear fuel elements at Ukraine’s nuclear fuel plant, TVEL has said.
TVEL said the equipment has passed all necessary stages of quality control with the participation of experts from Ukraine.
A spokesperson for TVEL said there are no technical constraints to the delivery of the equipment.
The equipment will be delivered once the shareholders of the fuel plant project decide on financing issues and the infrastructure necessary for storing the equipment is built, the spokesperson also said.
In 2012, the construction of a plant for the manufacturing of nuclear fuel for Russian VVER type reactors began near the village of Smolino, located 270 kilometres south of Kiev.
According to TVEL, the plant is designed to produce about 400 nuclear fuel assemblies per year, which is sufficient to cover the needs of all nuclear power reactors in Ukraine.
In September 2010, Ukraine selected TVEL for a joint venture to build and operate the plant in a public tender procedure. The fuel fabrication technology will be fully transferred to Ukraine from Russia by 2020.
In 2008, Energoatom, the operator of Ukraine’s nuclear power stations, signed a contract for nuclear fuel delivery from the Westinghouse Electric Company. In 2014, the contract was extended until 2020.
Ukraine has 15 commercially operational nuclear reactors at four locations: Khmelnitski, Rovno, Zaporozhye and South Ukraine. In 2013, they produced more than 43 percent of Ukraine’s electricity.
