Ukraine intends to establish production of nuclear fuel in three years

Ukraine plans to start producing nuclear fuel for nuclear power units in three years, which will later be exported to other countries. This is stated in a press release on the website of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

The press service of the Ministry of Energy notes that at present Ukraine has started the production of components for fuel assemblies of the VVER-1000 type, and in the future it plans to launch the production of assemblies for VVER-440 reactors. The project is being implemented by Energoatom in cooperation with the American company Westinghouse.

According to the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Galushchenko, the enterprise will produce fuel assemblies for nuclear reactors of nuclear power plants. It is planned to complete licensing and enter the commercial production of shanks this year, in 2024 — the industrial production of heads for fuel assemblies. The components will be used to produce nuclear fuel for the needs of Energoatom at the Westinghouse plant in Västerås, Sweden.

In the future, Ukraine expects to become a supplier of nuclear fuel to European countries where nuclear power plants with VVER-440 reactors operate, for which there are currently no analogues to Russian fuel, the minister said. Among such countries are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland and Bulgaria.

The American Westinghouse began commercial deliveries of nuclear fuel to Ukraine back in 2011. In August 2021, Ukraine signed a memorandum with Westinghouse on the construction of a power unit at the Khmelnytsky NPP, as well as four more units. In the same year, the Ukrainian authorities announced their intention to abandon Russian nuclear fuel, replacing it with supplies from the United States. After the start of the Russian military operation, Ukraine completely abandoned the purchase of nuclear fuel from Russia.

Milena Kostereva