Move part of effort to reduce reliance on imports for reactor fleet
The Ukrainian government has approved a proposal to construct a facility for producing nuclear fuel assemblies for power plants, according to a cabinet order.
The plant, which will be built by Energoatom in the Voznesensk district of Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv Oblast, will strengthen the country’s energy security, a government spokesperson said.
It is part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on imported nuclear fuel and transition to domestically produced fuel using technology from US-based Westinghouse Electric Company.
According to state nuclear operator Energoatom, the project will improve the safety and resilience of Ukraine’s nuclear fuel supply chain.
The company said the decision “opens a new page in the history of domestic nuclear energy… the transition to its own fuel using Westinghouse technology will contribute to increasing the safety of the fuel component of Ukraine's nuclear power plants”.
Energoatom noted that Westinghouse has already assessed and certified the production lines, and environmental impact studies and feasibility assessments have been completed and passed state review.
The next step will be the development of detailed project documentation and a comprehensive state examination before construction can begin.
Energoatom, which ended its use of Russian nuclear fuel after Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, has been diversifying its fuel supply and ultimately aims to create a complete domestic nuclear fuel cycle.
Westinghouse and Energoatom have signed a number of contracts over the past years for the supply of Westinghouse-made fuel for a large part of Ukraine’s reactor fleet.
Ukraine has 15 operable reactors including the six at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022. All six units at Zaporizhzhia have been in cold shutdown mode since September 2022. Nine units remain in operation at Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyy.
The fuel assemblies produced at the new facility will be suitable for VVER-1000 reactors, which make up most of Ukraine’s fleet.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, operators of VVER plants in Europe have been looking to diversify nuclear fuel supplies away from Tvel, the fuel wing of Moscow’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.
There are over 30 reactors of the VVER-440 and VVER-1000 design operating in the EU and in Ukraine.
