The UK Ministry of Defense highlighted the importance of refueling the Rivne NPP VVER-440 reactor with the first batch of nuclear fuel manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB featuring professionals from Ukrainian Energoatom.
“With nuclear energy supplying approximately half of Ukraine’s electricity, Energoatom’s success in sourcing and installing Western fuel is a major waypoint in Ukraine’s long-term decoupling from russia, whose influence over Ukraine’s energy supply is severely diminished”, says the UK Ministry of Defense Intelligence update of September 14.
Furthermore, the UK defense establishment noted that since russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has accelerated plans to diversify its supply.
"This is the end of the monopoly of the russians in this segment of the nuclear fuel market. And I strongly hope that this day will pave the way for quick sanctions against the russians in the nuclear industry," Energy Minister of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko said, commenting on the loading of the first batch of fuel of non-russian production into the RNPP power unit.
He stressed that earlier this type of nuclear fuel was manufactured exclusively by russia, so that the countries that used it were dependent on the terrorist state. In particular, several states used this argument, by justifying during the relevant negotiations their refusal to impose quick sanctions on the russian nuclear industry. "There is no obstacle left to impose sanctions on the russian nuclear industry," the Minister added.
In turn, President of SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" Petro Kotin noted that when the full-fledged invasion of russia began, the company reached out to Westinghouse partners with a proposal to speed up the production of fuel for VVER 440 reactors. "With our engineering support, they manufactured it in a year and a half and brought it here – to RNPP," Petro Kotin said.
