Westinghouse Electric Sweden, a division of US-based Westinghouse Electric Company said on 30 March that it will not be affected by the bankruptcy filing and will produce and supply nuclear fuel to six Ukrainian VVER-1000 reactors under its contract with Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom. Westinghouse said that cooperation with Ukraine is a top priority for the company, and it hopes to expand cooperation in the future. Discussions on expansion of fuel supplies and provision of services to Ukraine are underway. This would benefit both sides and increase energy security, the company said.
Energoatom in 2000 launched the project for the qualification of Westinghouse fuel and in 2008 Energoatom and Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB (Sweden) signed a commercial contract to ship fresh fuel to three or six reactors of Ukrainian NPPs in 2011-2015. However, during trial use at South Ukraine NPP in 2012, the fuel became deformed and caused serious damage to the reactor. The use of Westinghouse fuel was then suspended by Ukraine pending its redesign. However, following the 2014 change of government which brought to power a pro-Western government, the contract was revived and extended.
On-line Ukrainian media platform Ukrinform on 1 April quoted a statement from Westinghouse which said: “As announced on March 29, Westinghouse LLC and certain subsidiaries and affiliates filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. These filings do not relate to any operations in Westinghouse’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) or Asia regions. More importantly they do not in any way impact the delivery of fuel and services to Ukraine today or in the future.”
