President of SE NNEGC «Energoatom» Petro Kotin and President and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company Patrick Fragman discussed enhancement of the existing cooperation between the two companies and successful loading into Rivne NPP VVER-440 reactor of the nuclear fuel manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB with participation of Energoatom’s experts.
«This is just a part of the joint projects with our strategic long-term partners, the implementation of which strengthens Ukraine’s independence of russian nuclear technologies», Energoatom’s President Petro Kotin emphasized.
He also spoke about success in creating Ukraine’s own nuclear fuel assembly line that will help destroy the russian monopoly in this market.
«Ukraine continues its licensing efforts to increase industrial-scale production of fuel assembly bottom nozzles manufactured using the Westinghouse technology. In 2024, the same process is envisaged for the fuel assembly top nozzles», Energoatom’s President noted.
Petro Kotin added that commissioning of Ukraine’s own assembly line would have a positive effect on the global nuclear fuel market because this would allow using nuclear fuel not only to satisfy our own needs but also to export fuel to other countries.
«We are proud to have delivered in September the first reload batch of VVER-440 fuel assemblies to Energoatom for the Rivne NPP. This was a great milestone, following a thorough licensing process and a record-setting development program at our Västerås facility», Patrick Fragman said. «We are fully committed to continue supporting Energoatom in addressing the challenges and impacts generated by the conflict with russia».
It is worth reminding that even before the russian military aggression against Ukraine, Energoatom refused to cooperate with russia. One of Energoatom’s partners in this endeavor is Westinghouse. Their joint projects also include
