Westinghouse agrees.....

[Rogue Valley]

Westinghouse, the US firm with a contract to supply Ukraine with nuclear fuel for its 15 nuclear reactors, has agreed to partner with Ukraine in completing a nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Kirovograd Oblast. The State Enterprise National Nuclear Energy Generating Company (Energoatom) had originally contracted with the Russian company TVEL, but the project was halted in 2015 after the Russian invasions of Crimea and Donbas. Nuclear fuel fabrication plants receive cylinders of the gas UF-6 and convert this gas into UO-2 powder which is then compressed into small pellets. The pellets are then inserted into zirconium fuel-rods and fuel-assemblies. This is the fissile fuel that powers a nuclear reactor. Ukraine's zirconium rods/assembly parts and nuclear-energy turbines are manufactured at the Turboatom facility in Kharkiv. All of Ukraine's 15 Russian-model reactors are being updated by Orano-Areva, extending their usability for another 10-15 years. Three new reactors at Rivne and Khmelnitsky will be Western-designed. Upon completion of the nuclear fuel fabrication plant, Ukraine will be virtually self-sufficient in nuclear power generation. Ukraine typically mines ~1,000 tons of uranium per year since 2014. Energoatom and Holtec manage Ukraine’s Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility (CSFSF) at Chernobyl.