The Dukovany NPP in the Czech Republic has taken delivery of the first batch of fuel manufactured by US-based Westinghouse for its VVER-440 reactor units. In May, the first Westinghouse fuel was delivered for the VVER-1000 units at the Temelín NPP. Previously both plants had used fuel provided by Rosatom fuel company TVEL.
Nuclear currently provides about a third of the Czech Republic’s electricity. The two VVER-1000 units at Temelín began operation in 2000 and 2002, and the four VVER-440 units at Dukovany between 1985 and 1987.
In line with Europe’s policy of diversifying away from Russian fuel, power utility ČEZ in 2022 signed contracts for Temelín with Westinghouse for its Robust Westinghouse Fuel Assembly design and also with Framatome. In 2023, a further contract was signed with Westinghouse for NOVA E-6 design fuel for Dukovany.
The NOVA E-6 VVER-440 fuel is a modification of a 1996-98 fuel assembly design – NOVA E-3 (fixed assembly) and NOVCA (follower) developed in a programme involving BNFL (UK – which later took over Westinghouse)), IVO (Finland) and PAKS (Hungary). The programme included extensive testing and qualification of the new design. In June 1998, the manufacturing of five Lead Test Assemblies – four fixed and one follower assembly – at Springfields, UK, was completed and the fuel was delivered for insertion at unit 2 of Finland’s Loviisa NPP. Between 2001 and 2007, BNFL/Westinghouse delivered a total of 741 VVER-440 fuel assemblies to the Loviisa NPP in Finland which were manufactured by Enusa in Spain.
The NOVA E-3 and NOVCA designs were integrated into the Westinghouse fuel product portfolio, and all the intellectual property for the VVER-440 fuel was transferred from BNFL to Westinghouse in 2005-2006. However, in 2007 Loviisa decided to switch back to Russian fuel and Westinghouse withdrew from the market in 2008, closing down the supply chain and design development of the VVER-440 design.
Efforts to develop new design VVER-440 fuel restarted in 2014 in face of the demand for increased security of energy supply in Europe. Westinghouse, in a consortium comprising nine organisations, applied for a Euratom funded programme for diversification of the VVER fuel market in Europe, and was granted €2m ($16.5m) in 2015 to launch the ESSANUF programme, which ran until 2017. Development continued and in early 2023, Westinghouse and Enusa agreed to manufacture VVER-440 fuel using their factories at Västerås, in Sweden, and Juzbado (Salamanca), in Spain. The following September the first test assemblies were loaded at Ukraine’s Rivne NPP.
ČEZ Chairman & CEO Daniel Beneš, said receipt of the Dukovany fuel was “a step that significantly increases the energy security of the Czech Republic”. However, he noted that “in addition to diversifying nuclear fuel suppliers, we also hold strategic reserves in both of our nuclear power plants”.
At Dukovany, 80 of the new assemblies are currently undergoing inspection. “These are high-end engineering products, so our first step is a detailed incoming inspection,” said Bohdan Zronek, head of ČEZ’s nuclear energy division. “Before we load them into the reactor, we also need a permit from the State Office for Nuclear Safety. We are currently preparing the application.”
The new fuel must meet the strictest safety requirements. They must also meet the requirements for longer fuel campaigns – 16 months in Dukovany and 18 months in Temelín.
