London, United Kingdom, September 8, 2022 – Westinghouse Electric Company and ENUSA announced during the World Nuclear Symposium their intent to collaborate on VVER-440 fuel fabrication.
This expanded partnership will build on decades of performance delivering a Western alternative to Russian fuel in the European market. There are currently 16 nuclear reactors in Europe operating with VVER-440 fuel and utilities in the region are actively looking for alternatives to Russian-supplied fuel.
Mariano Moreno, ENUSA President and CEO, firmly believes that "this declaration of intent demonstrates our mutual commitment with energy security throughout Europe in an especially difficult context, as we build on our past successful experience supplying nuclear fuel to Loviisa nuclear power plant in Finland."
“We have a mutual interest in partnering in VVER-440 fuel manufacturing and potentially other related areas. With our proven track record supplying for VVER reactors, we stand ready to support even greater energy security for our customers and European countries,” said Tarik Choho, Westinghouse President of Nuclear Fuel. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with ENUSA and leveraging their valuable experience in this field.”
Westinghouse and ENUSA have partnered since 1974 under a Pressurized-Water Reactor (PWR) fuel technology transfer agreement in support of nuclear plants in Spain, Belgium, and France among others. Through the Westinghouse-ENUSA partnership, nearly 750 VVER-440 fuel assemblies were delivered to the Loviisa Nuclear Plant in Finland between 2002 and 2007. The companies also collaborated on the European Supply of Safe Nuclear Fuel (ESSANUF) HORIZON 2020 project from 2015 to 2017.