Ukraine plans to independently produce fuel using Westinghouse technology for its NPPs in three years – Energoatom head

KYIV. March 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine plans to independently produce fuel using Westinghouse technology for its nuclear power plants in three years, President of Energoatom Petro Kotin said.

“In three years, our line will go into operation using Westinghouse technology. We will produce part of the fuel ourselves, and take the rest from Westinghouse. Westinghouse’s share will be about 50%,” he said in an interview with BBC.

“This is not an energy infrastructure facility. This is a plant that produces nuclear fuel. There is no nuclear materials there. Therefore, it is absolutely safe in the sense in which you are now wondering,” he specified.

Kotin recalled that currently seven out of 15 power units of Ukrainian NPPs are loaded with Westinghouse fuel. At the same time, despite the refusal to buy fuel from TVEL (Russia) from the beginning of 2022, Energoatom has sufficient stocks of Russian nuclear fuel, so the last Russian assembly will leave Ukrainian reactors in six years.

“One fuel matrix or assembly has been in the core for four years. That is, after you have loaded it into the reactor, it will work for another four years. You can calculate how much more we will use Russian fuel if there are stocks for another two years. That is, we will load it for two years, and it will stay there for another four years. And in six years, the last Russian assembly will come out of our reactors,” he explained.