Русский
TVEL, the fuel division of Russia’s state-owned nuclear power corporation, has delivered the first shipment of nuclear fuel to the new No. 3 power unit at the Xudabao Nuclear Power Plant in China, the company has announced.
Oleg Grigoriev, senior vice president for commerce and international business at TVEL said that “The delivery was made under TVEL’s contract to supply fuel to power units 3 and 4 of the Xudabao Nuclear Power Plant, which are being constructed according to a Russian design using VVER-1200 generation III+ reactors. The Xudapu Nuclear Power Plant is a new point on the map of Russian nuclear fuel supplies. Previously, we supplied fuel for VVER-1000 and VVER-1200 reactors at the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, as well as fuel assemblies for Chinese fast neutron reactors. Now, another page is being opened in the history of our relations with our Chinese partners, which are developing very dynamically. We plan to manufacture and deliver the starting fuel loads for two more new VVER-1200 reactors at the Tianwan and Xudapu nuclear power plants by the end of this year.”
In total, four new VVER-1200 reactors are being built in China, including Units 7-8 at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu Province, as well as Units 3-4 at the Xudapu nuclear power plant. This is part of a large-scale Russian-Chinese interstate program of nuclear energy cooperation.
The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant is the largest project of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation. The construction of the plant involved original technical solutions that have no analogues in the global practice of nuclear power plant construction. The project has passed all the examinations of Russian and Chinese supervisory authorities and has been approved by the IAEA.
The Xudapu Nuclear Power Plant is a new project of cooperation between Russia and China in the field of nuclear energy, located in the city of Huludao (Liaoning Province). In 2019, a number of contracts were signed, including a general contract for the construction of Units 3 and 4 of the Xudapu Nuclear Power Plant with VVER-1200 reactors, as well as a contract for the supply of nuclear fuel. According to the contracts, the Russian side will design the nuclear island of the plant, supply key equipment for the nuclear island of both power units, and provide supervision, installation, and commissioning services for the supplied equipment. The units are scheduled to be put into operation in 2027-2028.
This year, Rosatom is also expecting to test reactor units at nuclear power plants in Bangladesh and Turkiye
Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said in January this year that “The first unit of the Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh is almost ready for start-up operations, and a decision by the Bangladeshi regulator is expected. We are also preparing the Turkish project for startup operations and are doing everything to render Turkiye’s nuclear energy a reality this year.”
Rosatom is one of the world’s largest nuclear power companies and is currently involved in building 3 NPPs in Russia and 39 in other countries.
