Energoatom: Despite Delays in Fuel Supply, No Interruptions in Operation of Power Units to Occur

Delays in the procurement of Westinghouse nuclear fuel will not affect operation of the Energoatom NPPs. The accumulated reserves will be enough for at least a year of operation for all 15 power units.

Nuclear and Radiation Safety Director of the Energoatom Nataliia Shumkova told about this.

According to her, the Energoatom did not purchase fuel in the first quarter of 2020 due to the lack of funds related to debts of the Guaranteed Buyer Enterprise to the Energoatom.

“A shift in the supply schedule is usually caused by changes in maintenance schedules of NPP units, because refueling occurs during maintenance at power units. This year, the change in fuel supply schedules is related also to the difficult financial situation of the Energoatom due to chronic failure to pay by the Guaranteed Buyer for the electricity supplied by the Energoatom. At our request, suppliers revise nuclear fuel supply schedules”, Nuclear and Radiation Safety Director of the Energoatom explained.

Shumkova also reminded that diversification of nuclear fuel supply sources for Ukrainian NPPs took 20 years: from the early 2000s. Today this fuel is operated at 2 units of SUNPP and 4 of ZNPP.

According to the Ukrainian Energy.