Russian company TVEL to supply nuclear fuel for BelNPP

The Russian company TVEL will supply nuclear fuel for the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP), Anatoly Bondar, Chief Engineer of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, said at a press conference on 18 December, BelTA has learned.

The timeframe for the supplies has not been specified yet. “Together with the Russian side, we are drawing up a nuclear fuel supply agreement in line with the contract,” Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk noted. The agreement is expected to outline the terms for the initial load of nuclear fuel and the first reload.

The company TVEL is part of the fuel division of the Russian state corporation ROSATOM. It incorporates enterprises for nuclear fuel production, conversion and enrichment of uranium, manufacture of gas centrifuges, and also several research and design institutions. TVEL’s core business is fabrication and supply of the nuclear fuel for power and research reactors. Nuclear fuel is supplied to 78 power reactors in Russia and 15 countries in Europe and Asia, 30 research reactors worldwide, and all transport reactors of the Russian nuclear-powered ships. Every sixth nuclear reactor in the world is operated on the fuel fabricated by TVEL.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant, the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.