Nuclear fuel made by Westinghouse is scheduled to load to reactor two of Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant (NPP) in November and December 2016, President of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom Yuriy Nedashkovsky has said.
He said that Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulation Inspectorate has finished its inspection. It was a success.
“There are no doubts that the decision to expand [the exploitation of Westinghouse fuel at reactor two of Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP],” he said.
Nedashkovsky also said that loading of 42 Westinghouse fuel assemblies (163 fuel assembles are totally loaded to the active zone of the reactor) to reactor five of Zaporizhia NPP is scheduled for June 2016.
It was reported that Energoatom launched a nuclear fuel qualification project with Westinghouse in 2000 in a bid to diversify its sources of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian NPPs.
In March 2008 Energoatom and Westinghouse Electric Sweden AV (Sweden) signed a contract for fresh fuel supplies to between three and six power units at Ukrainian NPPs with VVER-1000 (water-pressurized) reactors in 2011-2015.
The two companies agreed in 2014 to broaden and extend their fuel contract until 2020.
At present, the Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP is the only one that runs on Westinghouse fuel. A plan to broaden the use of an upgraded Westinghouse nuclear fuel assemblies (WR fuel assemblies) involves its use at reactor one and reactors three, four and five of the Zaporizhia NPP.
In February 2016, a first batch of fuel made in Sweden was delivered to Zaporizhia NPP.
Energoatom operates all four active NPPs in Ukraine. It runs 15 power units equipped with pressurized water reactors with a total installed capacity of 13.835 gigawatts. (interfax.com.ua)