Ukraine will start producing its own nuclear fuel, – "Energoatom"

Ukraine will start producing its own nuclear fuel, – "Energoatom"

Ukraine plans to start producing its own nuclear fuel using the technology of the American company Westinghouse in 2026. It is expected that it will be used only at Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

This was reported by "Energoatom".

They noted:

• it will be licensed fuel;
• we are talking about a line where the fuel assembly will be assembled.

"Ready fuel of Ukrainian production will come off this line. It will contain, in particular, elements that will be supplied by our partners," the statement said.

In "Energoatom" they also explained: the problem is that Ukraine does not have the capability to enrich uranium independently. Although the country conducts its own extraction of this resource, "a whole series of processes required to turn it into nuclear fuel is currently not implemented."

"A full nuclear cycle is a matter of the future. This will be licensed fuel that, according to the terms of Westinghouse, will be produced exclusively for Ukrainian NPPs. Negotiations on the stages of this process are still ongoing. The main agreements have already been reached," the company reported.

At the same time, they noted that Ukraine is already manufacturing some fuel components that "are licensed by Westinghouse." In particular:

• "the technology meets their requirements";
• the quality of the produced components is "sufficient to manufacture fuel from these elements."