(ORDO NEWS) — The Ukrainian “Energoatom” reported that they would no longer purchase nuclear fuel in Russia.
The company announced this decision in its telegram channel – in one line, without any details. Although it is clear that the statement was dictated by the Russian military operation launched by President Vladimir Putin on February 24th.
However, Ukraine planned to refuse the supply of nuclear fuel for its nuclear power plants a year ago, Acting Energy Minister Yuriy Vitrenko said. At the same time, the current contract for the supply of nuclear fuel from Russia expired only in 2025.
The Ukrainians wanted to replace Russian fuel with American. This is evidenced by the memorandum on the construction of a new power unit at the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant, signed last summer between Energoatom and Westinghouse Electric (USA).
All this probably creates significant risks for the Ukrainian side, since alternative suppliers have not yet demonstrated the ability to reliably replace Russian-made TVEL.
American fuel assemblies for Soviet-type reactors showed deformation during operation in the Czech Republic, which is why this country refused to supply from the United States, replacing Russian ones.
Similar incidents occurred at Ukrainian nuclear power plants when trying to pilot the operation of American fuel assemblies.
At the same time, it is not clear how the current decision will be implemented in practice. The main part of the nuclear power of Ukraine is no longer controlled by Kiev, they were occupied by Russian troops.
It is also unclear to what extent the military-political events of the coming weeks are capable of changing the position of the Ukrainian government on such issues.
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