Energoatom receives confirmation from Westinghouse on fuel for Khmelnytskyi NPP’s potential reactors

The relevant statement was made by Energoatom’s press service, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Westinghouse confirms its ability to provide a compatible fuel assembly design for the first and subsequent cycles of KhNPP-3 and KhNPP-4 on the basis of the V-466V reactor in a timely manner. Considering the timelines for the implementation of the nuclear fuel project, we recommend starting discussions on technical details and determining the sce of work on the expert evaluation and implementation of the fuel project in the near future,” the report states.

The safety analysis report provided by the experts claims that the core of the VVER-1000 V-466V reactor consists of 163 fuel assemblies of the TV3-A type. That very type, TV3-A, has been used for a long time in the cores of the VVER-1000 reactors that are successfully erated in Ukraine.

As reported by Energoatom National Nuclear Energy Generating Company of Ukraine earlier, power unit 3 and power unit 4, which are expected to be completed at Khmelnytskyi NPP, will be running on the fuel made by the U.S. company Westinghouse.

In this regard, ga Kosharna, a nuclear energy expert, stated that VVER-1000/V466 reactors, which Energoatom is planning to purchase from Bulgaria, require Russia’s TVEL fuel only. In her words, due to the technical features of such reactor plant’s fuel assembly, Westinghouse would have to devel a new fuel.