Experts unhappy about untested fuel assemblies at Ukrainian nuclear power plants

The use of non-native fuel assembles without a cycle of preliminary serious tests cannot contribute to the safety of nuclear power plants. The opinion was voiced by experts during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 25 April to discuss the state and future of nuclear power engineering. The experts had been asked whether it was possible and safe to use American nuclear fuel instead of Russian fuel at Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

According to Andrei Kuzmin, Acting Director General of the United Energy and Nuclear Research Institute Sosny, the theory allows for using fuel assemblies made by different manufacturers.

“However, it is not that simple. The use of non-native fuel assemblies requires a large number of tests to adapt them to a specific reactor type. Without sufficient testing a fuel assembly cannot be guaranteed to withstand standard operation conditions and can be deformed. The latter has already happened to the fuel assemblies supplied by the American company Westinghouse for nuclear power plants with water-moderated reactors. You must understand that such things cannot contribute to safety,” explained Andrei Kuzmin.

“I would like to underline one more time that the task is not impossible. You just need to perform the sufficient number of required tests and improve the assemblies up to the required reliability standards. After that it will be possible to say that the required operation parameters of fuel assemblies have been secured,” said the expert.

He also added that Russian companies are now working to offer fuel assemblies that fit Western nuclear power plant designs, including American ones, to the market.

Professor Rafael Arutyunyan, Deputy Director for Science and Promising Research Coordination of the Nuclear Safety Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, remarked that the safe operation of nuclear power plants is not threatened by the desire to replace Russian fuel at Russian-design nuclear power plants in Ukraine, but the desire to bypass the accepted safety tests that the replacement of Russian fuel with Westinghouse fuel requires.

The previous attempts to install Westinghouse fuel into Russian-design nuclear power plants without a lengthy series of safety demonstration procedures have already resulted in serious problems in the operation of the active zone at a Czech nuclear power plant and a South Ukraine nuclear power plant, reminded the Russian scientist.

Any actions relevant for the operation of a nuclear power plant must follow transparent procedures to provide an independent safety evaluation in cooperation with nuclear power plant designers, said Rafael Arutyunyan. Otherwise, some people will no longer be responsible for safety, he concluded.