In September, Russian fuel company TVEL was selected as the winner of the international bid for construction of the nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Ukraine.
The Ukranian press service noted that TVEL was chosen the winner because it expressed readiness to invest own funds in the construction, unlike the other bidder, Westinghouse Electric Company.
Vice president of TVEL Vasily Konstantinov has previously stated that the company’s intention is to prepare a feasibility study for construction of the nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Ukraine within one year.
Under the bidding terms, Ukraine hopes to get the controlling interest in the future plant and insists on transfer of the nuclear fuel fabrication technology before 2020.
The plant is due to be commissioned in 2013. By this time, it should be capable of producing fuel rods and fuel assemblies equivalent to 200 tons of uranium per year. From 2017 the plant is expected to have the capacity to produce fuel pellets equivalent to 400 tons of uranium per year and in 2020 to produce fuel rods and fuel assemblies equivalent to 400 tons of uranium annually.
A binding condition of the bid was also the requirement to transfer the technology for fabrication of fuel assemblies on unconditional license terms, which would allow the plant to make fuel assemblies for Ukraine and third-party countries, with consent from the technology holder.
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