Fuel is low enriched (ca. 2.4–4.4% 235 U) uranium dioxide (UO 2) or equivalent pressed into pellets and assembled into fuel rods. Reactivity is controlled by control rods that can be inserted into the reactor from above.

The Westinghouse Fuel Assembly (WFA) and Robust Westinghouse Fuel Assembly (RWFA) design have been operated successfully to rod burnup of 50MWD/kgU. As a next step, Westinghouse is developing our next-generation VVER fuel solutions that aim to provide the best performance and reliability available on the market.

The Robust Westinghouse Fuel Assembly (RWFA) design has rapidly become the Westinghouse standard fuel product for the VVER-1000 units in Ukraine. The RWFA design is an evolution of Westinghouse's previous VVER-1000 fuel design, WFA, which was first introduced as Lead Test Assemblies in South Ukraine Unit 3 in 2005.

VVER fuel market Mark Dye, Jan Höglund, and Ulf Benjaminsson give an overview of Westinghouse’s 15-year nuclear fuel development programme at South Ukraine, along with its plans to re-enter the VVER-440 fuel market with a new design.

Currently, JSC TVEL has already approved with nuclear fuel customers for NPPs of Russia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary and Armenia the supplies of VVER FAs with fuel rods fabricated without etching and anodizing.

Feb 22, 2024 · The forum, hosted by Slovenské elektrárne, provided the opportunity to share experiences and best practices with VVER-1000 and VVER-440 fuel deployment in operating reactors. Westinghouse offered detailed briefings on fuel licensing, NOVA E-6 design enhancements, fabrication plant upgrades, delivery and operations.

Jul 6, 2023 · A consortium led by Westinghouse was selected by the European Union (EU) to develop and deliver a secure, fully European nuclear fuel supply to Russian-designed pressurized water reactors (VVER).

Oct 9, 2024 · The new SAVE (Safe and Alternative VVER European) project follows the Westinghouse-led Accelerated Program for Implementation of Secure VVER Fuel Supply (APIS) project launched in July 2023 to develop safe fuel designs for VVER-440 and next generation fuel designs for VVER-1000 reactors.

Aug 26, 2011 · Russia now supplies almost a fifth of the world’s nuclear fuel. TVEL’s fuel development programmes for Russian-designed VVER light water reactors in Russia and abroad aim to increase the service life, burn-up and cost effectiveness of its fuel assemblies. By P.I. Lavrenyuk and V.L. Molchanov.

Develop safe fuel designs for VVER-440 plants for delivery in 2023, including upgrading or newly designed test equipment and test loops. Develop improved VVER-440 fuel designs, with improved fuel economics for operation and suitability for all EU and Ukraine plants, for delivery in 2024.