Politics Drives Ukraine Use of US Fuel at Nuclear Plants

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Politics Drives Ukraine Use of US Fuel at Nuclear Plants – Report

RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 13.05.2014

Ukraine’s decision to use American fuel for its nuclear power plants is a political step that contradicts principals of nuclear safety, the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper reported Monday.

“The debate continues over the already delivered American fuel assembly, which has critical defects,” the newspaper said.

According to SZ, a Russian-designed nuclear power plant in south Ukraine has proved to be incompatible with fuel assemblies produced in the US.

“Amid the events in Ukraine experts are concerned: is there still a possibility for impartial assessment?” SZ reported, adding that acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk recently replaced the head of Ukraine’s nuclear watchdog.

According to German experts, the former head was competent and trustworthy, while the new manager does not have sufficient experience, including on the fuel issue.

Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom and US-based Westinghouse earlier prolonged a contract on nuclear fuel supplies for power plants to 2020. The decision was motivated mainly by political reasons, SZ said.

Last month, professor Boris Kalinin from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, told RIA Novosti that Ukraine’s decision to use unlicensed US-produced radioactive fuel for its nuclear power plants is a blatant violation of safety standards that Kiev will have to answer for before the International Atomic Energy Agency and the entire international community.

The expert said US-produced fuel rods are incompatible with the country’s Soviet-era reactors, which could result in a second Chernobyl disaster.

The Czech Republic earlier cancelled the construction of two nuclear reactor projects by Westinghouse due to a radiation leak. In 2012-2013, Kiev reported problems with the Westinghouse-made fuel assemblies that were installed on Soviet-made reactors at the South Ukraine power plant.

Topics: Ukraine, Westinghouse

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