Westinghouse Electric Company signed an extension to its nuclear fuel contract with Ukraine's State Enterprise National Nuclear Energy Generation Company (SE NNEGC) Energoatom, the company announced on Monday.
The contract involves nuclear fuel deliveries to seven of Ukraine's 15 nuclear power reactors between 2021 and 2025, and includes the expansion of the existing contract for six reactors that were set to expire in 2020, the company said.
"Under the terms of the new contract, our relationship with Ukraine will be strengthened through our plan to source some of the fuel components from a Ukrainian manufacturer," Jose Emeterio Gutierrez, Westinghouse's president and chief executive officer was quoted as saying.
Yurii Nedashkovskyi, president of Energoatom said that the company is the only operating utility of VVER-1000 reactors in the world that has fully diversified sources of nuclear fuel supplies.
"Nuclear fuel from Westinghouse has played an important role in Ukraine's work for independence [in energy fuel sources] for more than a decade," the company said.
Westinghouse began supplying fuel to Ukraine in 2005, when the first lead test assemblies were delivered to the South-Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant's unit 3, according to the company.
"We are pleased that Energoatom is continuing to trust Westinghouse as an alternative supplier of nuclear fuel to VVER reactors," said Aziz Dag, Westinghouse vice president and managing director, Northern Europe.
The manufacturing and assembly of the nuclear fuel will be made by the Westinghouse fuel fabrication facility in Sweden.
Deliveries will begin in 2021, immediately following the conclusion of the existing contract.
By Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr