Ukraine gets rid of dependence on supplies of spare parts for nuclear reactors from Russia
"Energoatom became the world's first energy company to implement a project to diversify nuclear fuel for Soviet reactors
Ukraine has completely abandoned the supply of spare parts for nuclear reactors from Russia and was able to replace them with its own production or production in partner countries.
Source. This was announced by the President of NNEGC Energoatom Petro Kotin on the air of the national telethon "United News" on Thursday evening, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"When Russia's military aggression began, we completely abandoned supplies from this country and replaced it with our own production or production in our partner countries," Kotin said.
"Here is one example – the VVER-440 reactor liners, which were produced only in Russia. Together with our American partner Westinghouse, we broke Russia's monopoly on fuel production for such reactors, but in addition to this, we also need the fuel assemblies. And now we can produce them," added the head of the NNEGC.
In addition, he noted that Ukraine is on the way to developing the technology of small modular reactors, and this is also linked to the concept of creating a Ukrainian nuclear technology hub, which Energoatom is striving for.
"We are closely monitoring SMR technologies of all leading companies, we have memorandums with many of them and we plan to sign agreements on the construction of plants in Ukraine to produce components for such reactors," he said.
According to Kotin, SMR is a promising area and eventually a hub of nuclear technologies, which "will supply capacities, electricity, equipment and components for SMR to other countries."
As reported, in April 2023, Energoatom and Holtec signed an agreement on the construction of a plant for the manufacture of SMR components. The document declared a plan to install up to 20 SMR reactors in Ukraine.
In September 2023, Ukraine loaded Westinghouse nuclear fuel into the VVER-440 reactor at Rivne NPP for the first time. The American fuel will be used in the reactor core along with Russian fuel, with its subsequent complete replacement.
Initially, the project to start operating Westinghouse fuel was planned to be launched in 2025, but after the start of full-scale Russian aggression, it was possible to significantly reduce the timeframe for the production of this fuel in Sweden.
Thus, Energoatom became the world's first power generating company operating Soviet-designed reactors to implement a project to diversify nuclear fuel for VVER-1000 and VVER-440 reactors.
If you have read this article to the end, we hope that means it was useful for you.
We work to ensure that our journalistic and analytical work is of high quality, and we strive to perform it as competently as possible. This also requires financial independence. Support us for only UAH 196 per month.
Become a Mind subscriber for just USD 5 per month and support the development of independent business journalism!
You can unsubscribe at any time in your LIQPAY account or by sending us an email: [email protected]
