TVEL Fuel company of ROSATOM and the Department of Atomic Energy of the
Government of India signed the contract for supplies of uranium fuel
pellets for the units of Tarapur NPP powered by BWR reactors.NPP powder
According to the contract, in 2019, several dozen tons of the pellets
produced by Machine-building Plant (MSZ JSC), a fabrication facility of
TVEL Fuel Company in Elektrostal, Moscow region, will be shipped to
India. The nuclear fuel bundles for Tarapur NPP will be manufactured at
the National Fuel Complex in Hyderabad, Telengana state.
A pellet, a key component of nuclear fuel, is a pressed-powder uranium
dioxide, previously enriched with U-235 isotope. Such fuel pellets,
which need to be further loaded into fuel rods, are produced at
fabrication enterprises of nuclear fuel cycle.
“TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM has already successfully fulfilled several
similar contracts for exports of fuel pellets to India, including the
ones for PHWR reactors. The fact, that the Indian side imports from
Russia not commodities, but the ready-made elements of nuclear fuel for
various non-Russian design reactors, is an evidence of the high trust
level in our relationship, as well as the competitiveness of the Russian
market offer both technically and commercially”, Oleg Grigoriyev,
senior vice-president for commerce and international business at TVEL
JSC, commented.
In the Indian market, TVEL JSC also provides shipments of complete fuel
bundles for the Russian-made VVER reactors at the two operating units of
Kudankulam NPP, under the long-term contract with Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Limited.
Tarapur NPP in Palghar district, Maharashtra state, is the first
commercial nuclear power plant in India commissioned in 1969. Currently
it is powered by two 150 MWe BWR reactors and two 490 MWe PHWR reactors
(according to WNA data).
TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM incorporates enterprises for the
fabrication of nuclear fuel, conversion and enrichment of uranium,
production of gas centrifuges, as well as research and design
organizations. It is the only supplier of nuclear fuel for Russian
nuclear power plants. TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM provides nuclear fuel
for 72 power reactors in 14 countries, research reactors in eight
countries, as well as transport reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet.
Every sixth power reactor in the world operates on fuel manufactured by
TVEL.
