At the Rovno NPP (RNPP), fuel assemblies from the American company Westinghouse have already been loaded into the reactor core of power unit No. 3. According to the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine, so far we are talking about partial filling of the reactor core with American fuel, which will be subjected to trial operation, after the successful implementation of which the stage of commercial operation will begin.
“The increase in the share of fuel from Westinghouse in the reactor core of power unit No. 3 of the RNPP will take place in stages - annually until it is fully equipped with fuel from an American manufacturer,” the inspection said.
They reminded that power unit No. 3 of the RNPP is already the seventh of the thirteen Ukrainian nuclear reactors of the VVER-1000 type, which use fuel assemblies from Westinghouse.
Until now, as part of the implementation of the Nuclear Fuel Diversification Program for VVER-1000 reactor plants, 6 power units of Ukrainian NPPs have been operating on Westinghouse fuel: No. 2 and No. 3 of the South Ukrainian NPP and power units No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 of the Zaporozhye NPP .
“During the operation of Westinghouse fuel assemblies during 2015-2022 at VVER-1000 reactors, no violations of the conditions for the safe operation of power units were recorded,” the SNRCU noted.
In addition, a state expert review of the nuclear and radiation safety of materials justifying the introduction of an alternative fuel assembly, manufactured by Westinghouse, for VVER-440 type reactors, which are used at power units No. 1 and No. 2 of the Rovno NPP, has begun.
Earlier it was reported that on June 21 Energoatom and the American company Westinghouse discussed issues of bilateral cooperation, in particular, the preparation of regulatory documents for the construction of new nuclear power units using AP1000 technology.
