TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM to Develop New Modification of Nuclear Fuel for Loviisa NPP in Finland

TVEL JSC (fuel division of ROSATOM) and Fortum Power and Heat Oy (Finland) have signed an addendum to the existing fuel supply contract, which is aimed at development of improved second-generation fuel assemblies for VVER-440 reactors at two power units of Loviisa NPP.

Within the project Russian engineers will develop a new modification of fuel assemblies with increased uranium capacity and optimized water uranium balance compared to assemblies currently used at  Loviisa NPP. This would enhance the economic efficiency of the power units.

The contract between TVEL JSC and Fortum Power and Heat Oy embraces the supply of nuclear fuel to both power units of  Loviisa NPP throughout their lifetime. Modern second-generation uranium-gadolinium fuel for VVER-440 reactors is produced by Machinery plant JSC (a fabrication enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company in Elektrostal, Moscow region).

"TVEL Fuel Company works continuously to create and offer to its customers new models and modifications of nuclear fuel. Second-generation jacket fuel bundles for VVER-440, which were proposed for  Loviisa NPP and Paksh NPP in Hungary (NB: the contract with the Hungarian customer was signed in November, 2017), are based on the same technical solution. However, the implementation of each project would comply with the individual requirements of our customers in terms of fuel cycles strategy," said Alexander Ugryumov, Vice-President for R&D at TVEL JSC.

TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM includes  enterprises of nuclear fuel fabrication, conversion and enrichment of uranium, production of gas centrifuges, as well as research and development organizations. TVEL is the only supplier of nuclear  fuel to Russian NPPs. TVEL Fuel Company provides with nuclear fuel 75 power reactors in 14 countries, research reactors in 8 countries, as well as transport reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet. One in six power reactors in the world runs on TVEL's fuel.