At Russia’s Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP, part of Rosatom’s fuel company TVEL), a project has been completed to establish a TVS-Kvadrat nuclear fuel production facility for Western-design PWR reactors, TVEL said on 28 December.
The new production site will ensure the supply of various modifications of TVS-Kvadrat (TVS-K) fuel in commercial volumes to operators of nuclear power plants with PWR reactors.
The project, based on Rosatom’s many years of experience in the development of nuclear fuel fabrication production, was implemented using the most modern equipment and technologies with a wide use of digital solutions. A high degree of automation and control and measuring operations at each stage of production ensure the required level of fuel quality in accordance with the requirements of customers, TVEL noted.
In 2020, an experimental batch of TVS-Kvadrat completed its operation cycle in the PWR-900 reactor at unit 3 of the Ringhals nuclear plant in Sweden. The irradiated fuel was sent to the Studsvik Science Centre in Sweden for post-irradiation studies, the main phase of which ended in autumn 2021.
“Reference operating experience and post-reactor studies have confirmed the declared characteristics of Russian PWR fuel. The introduction of TVS-Kvadrat to the world market will allow for diversification of PWR fuel supplies not only by supplier, but also by technology,” said TVEL President Natalya Nikipelova. “Russian fuel has an original "genetics" — these are construction materials, and an approach to the manufacture of a fuel composition, etc. Fuel TVS-Kvadrat is based on Russian technological solutions that are not subject to export control restrictions by other states. We are confident that the use of our products will allow customers to obtain an economic effect while unconditionally ensuring reliability and safety.”
Photo: TVS-K fuel for Western PWRs (Photo credit: TVEL)