Energoatom and Westinghouse announce the expansion of cooperation in the area of nuclear fuel supply and construction of new nuclear power units in Ukraine
On June 2, 2022, SE “NNEGC “Energoatom” and Westinghouse Electric Company at Khmelnytskyi NPP site have signed three agreements.
✓ For the supply of nuclear fuel to all Ukrainian nuclear power plants;
✓ For increasing the number of NPP power units to be built in Ukraine using AP1000® technology;
✓ For the establishment of Westinghouse engineering center in Ukraine.
In the presence of the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Ukraine Tobias Tyberg, these Agreements were signed by the President of SE “NNEGC “Energoatom” Petro Kotin and the President and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company Patrick Fragman and the Vice President and Managing Director of Westinghouse Aziz Dag.
In connection with the refusal to purchase russian nuclear fuel, Energoatom agreed with Westinghouse, its strategic partner, to increase the supply of American nuclear fuel for all Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
This means providing fuel for both already operating power units and those that the companies plan to build in Ukraine within the framework of cooperation. Fuel will be supplied from Westinghouse fuel fabrication plant in Västerås, Sweden. However, the manufacture of fuel assembly components will be localized in Ukraine at one of the separate subdivisions of NNEGC “Energoatom”, which is currently completing the qualification for the manufacture of top and bottom nozzles for Westinghouse fuel.
Within the cooperation in terms of construction of new AP1000® power units in Ukraine Energoatom and Westinghouse agreed to increase planned fleet from five to nine units. The AP1000® plant is a proven Gen III+ reactor featuring unique fully passive safety systems, modularized standard design, and industry-leading operability performance and load following capability.
The two companies also affirmed their intention to establish a Westinghouse engineering center in Ukraine, which will provide engineering and technological support of AP1000® plants construction and operation in Ukraine, as well as future decommissioning of Ukrainian NPP power units.
According to the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko, the agreements concluded between Energoatom and Westinghouse are another powerful step towards the energy independence of our country, its carbon-free future, they open up a huge potential for the supply of Ukrainian electricity to European countries, which will help reduce their dependence on russian energy sources.
“We will modernize our fleet of nuclear power units that will produce clean, safe and reliable energy without russian influence. In the future, Ukraine may become a key supplier of electricity to Europe. We consider the joint creation of a powerful Westinghouse engineering center in Ukraine as trust and recognition of the high level of national nuclear science, the qualifications of Ukrainian nuclear engineers and a strong foundation for the development of nuclear energy in Ukraine for decades to come based on state-of-the-art technologies. I am sure that we will honor this trust. I am thankful to our American partners for long-standing fruitful cooperation and reliable support provided to Ukraine during the war,” said Herman Halushchenko”.
According to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Ukraine Tobias Tyberg, Sweden has been supporting the development of Ukraine's independence for all 30 years, during which our country has been fighting for it.
“Energy independence is one of the most important elements of Ukrainian policy, and Sweden supports Ukraine in the fight against the eastern invader so that the country becomes energy independent and gets rid of russian fuel. We welcome today's event and remain an important partner of Ukraine on this path at a time when your state is fighting for independence, and we want to see Ukraine as a sovereign, strong and successful country,” said the Ambassador.
For his part, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Westinghouse Electric Company Patrick Fragman emphasized that Westinghouse is proud to sign these agreements to fully support Ukraine’s current operating fleet with industry-leading fuels and services and to increase the number of committed new AP1000® units from five to nine.
“We greatly value our long-standing partnership with Energoatom and look forward to the work ahead to help advance Ukraine’s carbon free future, both with the installed fleet as well as new build projects,” he added.
According to the President of Energoatom Petro Kotin, the achieved agreements mark a new stage in the development of the Ukrainian energy industry. Through joint projects with Westinghouse, Ukraine will become one of the world leaders in nuclear energy, will have a powerful and modern fleet of nuclear power units that will produce clean electricity for both Ukraine and the whole Europe.
“All this will be supported by the most advanced Westinghouse engineering center, which, I am sure, will become a locomotive for the development of national nuclear science and technology, a training center for nuclear engineers for many years to come,” said Petro Kotin.
“We are also grateful to Westinghouse for long-standing reliable cooperation in the supply of nuclear fuel to Ukrainian nuclear power plants and for its intention to rapidly expand the production of additional fuel batches. 8 years of russia's armed aggression proved that the diversification of nuclear fuel supplies was the right thing. Three months ago it allowed us to confidently make a decision to refuse russian supplies,” added Petro Kotin.
Director General of Khmelnytskyi NPP Andrii Koziura assured that the NPP site is ready for the construction of two AP1000® power units, and the relevant preparatory work has been carried out at the KhNPP. The plant staff is ready for painstaking work and is looking forward to the start of construction work.
For information:
On August 31, 2021, SE “NNEGC “Energoatom” and Westinghouse, in the presence of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, signed a Memorandum on the construction of five power units in Ukraine using the American AP1000® technology.
On November 22, 2021, in Kyiv, following the provisions of the Memorandum, the first two agreements were signed for the construction of two power units using this technology at Khmelnytskyi NPP.
Two new power units will not be built at the location of power units No. 3 and No. 4 of Khmelnytskyi NPP, but from scratch at a new site on the territory of the plant.
The 1100 MW AP1000® reactors are Generation III+ reactors with state-of-the-art active and passive safety systems. The advantage of these reactors is a very high installed capacity factor - 93% and an extended fuel cycle - 18 months. The reactor is capable of load follow operation in the range from 20 to 100% of the load. It consists of 50 large and 250 small modules, which significantly reduces the cost and time of construction.
In early March this year, Energoatom completely refused the purchase of russian nuclear fuel.
Енергоатом
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