The Ukrainian state energy company Energoatom has completed a first delivery of nuclear fuel made at the Westinghouse facilities in Sweden to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP).

The fuel was received in the presence of the manufacturer's representatives, the entry control of the fuel passed normally, the NPP said on Monday.

A technical decision to introduce Westinghouse fuel at the Zaporizhia NPP is currently under consideration at the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, the NPP spokesperson said. Once the regulator gives permission, Westinghouse fuel assemblies are to be loaded into the active zone of the reactor five in May 2016.

Subsequently, if the results of trial operation are good, the fuel will be loaded to reactors three, four and one.

It was reported that Energoatom launched a nuclear fuel qualification project with Westinghouse in 2000 in a bid to diversify its sources of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian NPPs.

In March 2008 Energoatom and Westinghouse Electric Sweden AV (Sweden) signed a contract for fresh fuel supplies to between three and six power units at Ukrainian NPPs with VVER-1000 (water-pressurized) reactors in 2011-2015.

In 2014 the two companies agreed to broaden and extend their fuel contract until 2020.

At present, the Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP is the only one that runs on Westinghouse fuel. A plan to broaden the use of an upgraded Westinghouse nuclear fuel (TBC-WR) involves its use at reactor one and reactors three, four and five of the Zaporizhia NPP.

Energoatom operates all four active NPPs in Ukraine. It runs 15 power units equipped with pressurized water reactors with a total installed capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.

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