5 Dec (NucNet): Russian nuclear engineering company Gidropress has completed longevity testing of fuel assembly models that it says will improve the performance of Russian-supplied VVER-440 reactor units in Finland and Hungary.
Gidropress, a subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said this new modification of second-generation nuclear fuel has been developed for the Loviisa nuclear station in Finland and the Paks nuclear station in Hungary under contracts signed earlier this year with Russian nuclear fuel company TVEL, also a Rosatom subsidiary.
First deliveries of the fuel assemblies to Loviisa and Paks are expected to begin in 2021-2022.
Gidropress said the behaviour of the new fuel assemblies was studied for 1,500 hours with parameters as close as possible to reactor conditions in terms of consumption, temperature, pressure and pressure pulsations
The test results have already been presented to Fortum, the operator of Loviisa, and to Paks and the Hungarian regulator HAEA.
The modified fuel allows for an increase in the volume of coolant inside the reactor core and optimisation of the hydro-uranium ratio, which will improve the technical and economic performance of Loviisa and Paks units, Gidropress said.
