Tvel, the fuel manufacturing subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said further batches are expected to be sent by the end of 2022. The fuel will be used for the first fuel loading of the CFR-600.
Tvel said it has been working on the fuel project for the Chinese reactor for more than three years.
The fuel assemblies were manufactured at the Elemash Machine-Building Plant in Elektrostal, near Moscow.
In January 2019, Tvel signed a contract to supply nuclear fuel for the CFR-600 demonstration project.
The CFR-600 is a 600-MW sodium-cooled pool-type fast reactor and is expected to begin commercial operation by 2023. The plant will be able to operate on both mixed oxide (MOX) and uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel types.
Fast neutron reactors offer more efficient use of uranium resources and the ability to burn actinides – chemical elements which are otherwise the long-lived component of high-level nuclear waste.
According to Tvel, the fuel contract covers initial loading of nuclear fuel into the CFR-600 and a number of subsequent refuels covering the first seven years of the unit’s operation.
