As of March 22, 2021, power units No. 2 and No. 3 of the South-Ukrainian NPP, as well as power unit No. 5 of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, were fully loaded with nuclear fuel produced by Westinghouse.
Three more units (No. 1, 3, and 4 of the Zaporizhzhya NPP) today use 126 out of 163 fuel assemblies type TVS-WR produced by Westinghouse, according to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNIRU).
"During the operation of TVS-WR over a period of 2015-2021, no prerequisites for violating the conditions of power units safe operation have been identified," the message says.
In addition, starting from 2021, Energoatom plans to begin trial operation of TVS-WR assemblies at power unit No. 3 of the Rivne NPP, as agreed with the SNRIU.
"At present, the SE "National Nuclear Energy Generating Company "Energoatom" is considering the possibility of using an alternative assembly, manufactured by Westinghouse for power units with VVER-440 RNPP-1,2," the message says.
VVER-440 is a pressurized water type reactor with an electric power of 440 MW, developed in the USSR by OKB Gidropress. It was originally designed for an electric power of 500 MW, but due to the lack of suitable turbines, it was converted to 440 MW (2 turbines of 220 MW). At present, due to modernization of some power units, the nominal capacity has been increased to 475 MW at the Kola NPP in the Russian Federation and by 510 MW at the Loviisa NPP in Finland.
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