Budapest, HUNGARY – April 8, 2026 – Westinghouse and MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) recently co-hosted the VVER Fuel Forum in Budapest to share insights and plans for the continued deployment of VVER-1000 and VVER-440 fuel in operating reactors.
Sophie Lemaire, Interim Co-president Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel
Péter János Horváth, CEO of MVM Paks, welcomed all the participants, highlighting that Hungary is ending two decades of single supplier fuel dependency thanks to the agreement recently signed with Westinghouse to supply the VVER-440 NOVA E-6 fuel design.
Six customers presented the progress made and positive outcomes achieved in the past years with the introduction of Westinghouse fuel into mixed cores with resident fuel in their reactors:
Energoatom has extensive experience with Westinghouse VVER-440 and VVER-1000 fuel, currently used in the 9 reactors in operation. Ukraine will be the first country to operate entirely with Westinghouse fuel in all units as of 2028. Preparation work is ongoing for manufacturing of fuel components and establishing an assembly line for VVER-1000 fuel in Ukraine.
In Finland, the VVER-440 fuel delivered to Fortum in 2024 (NOVA E-6) is in operation in Loviisa unit 2 and is performing as expected.
In Bulgaria, RWFA VVER-1000 fuel was loaded in Kozloduy NPP unit 5 in a mixed core in 2024 and currently the unit 5 core consists of 50% Westinghouse fuel. Lead Test Assemblies of the RWFA-13 fuel design will be loaded in Kozloduy NPP unit 6.
In the Czech Republic, ČEZ received the first reload deliveries of the upgraded VVER-1000 fuel for the Temelin NPP and VVER-440 fuel for Dukovany NPP last year. Fuel will be loaded after completing the licensing process for each plant.
The VVER-440 fuel licensing process is ongoing in Slovakia for Mochovce NPP 1 and 2.
The process to license VVER-440 NOVA E-6/NOVCD fuel for Paks NPP 1, 2, 3 and 4 has started in Hungary. Westinghouse plans to deliver the first fuel reload in 2028.
Westinghouse shared plans for additional product enhancements, fabrication plant upgrades and expanded fuel engineering capacity to support the company’s innovation and leadership in the VVER fuel market. The development of the NOVA E-7 VVER-440 and the Next Generation VVER-1000 fuel designs targets to improve fuel economy and reliability. From the manufacturing perspective, a new pellet facility is under construction in Västerås, Sweden, which will result in a 50% capacity increase by 2028.
“It’s exciting to see all the tangible results we have accomplished together with our customers to ensure energy security in the region,” said Sophie Lemaire, Westinghouse Interim Co-President of Nuclear Fuel. “While we now have an extensive experience of almost 30 years with this type of fuel, the last 4 years have been critical in accelerating our efforts to offer a reliable fuel diversification alternative to our customers”.
Photo capton: Participants to the VVER Fuel Forum