American Holtec International has invited Energoatom specialists to join the project team that will work on the deployment of the SMR-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at the Palisades NPP site in the United States.
This was announced by Energoatom with reference to Holtec President and CEO Chris Singh on its Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“Participation of Energoatom representatives at the stages of construction, testing and commissioning of SMR at the Palisades NPP site (USA) will allow the company to gain experience for further implementation of this technology in Ukraine,” the NNEGC noted.
According to Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin, the invitation of the company’s specialists to the Holtec project team is another evidence of the high confidence in Ukraine and Energoatom from strategic partners.
“We are pleased to receive this invitation, which demonstrates not only support in this difficult time for the country, but also recognizes the high professionalism and competence of our nuclear scientists,” he emphasized.
Earlier, Holtec received a $1.52 billion loan from the US Department of Energy to restart the Palisades NPP, with two SMR-300 reactors planned to be deployed at the plant.
As reported, Energoatom and Holtec have implemented a project for the construction and commissioning of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility in Ukraine (CSFSF).
The companies also reached an agreement on the implementation of two large-scale projects in Ukraine: the construction of a plant for the production of SMR components and the construction of a plant for the production of components for the Centralized SFSF, which have been produced in the United States until now.
JSC Turboatom (Kharkiv) in April plans to deliver a first modernized rotor under a contract to modernize high- and medium-press cylinders of reactor two of Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant for the total amount of UAH 300 million.
According to a report on Turboatom’s website, the contract was signed on February 25 by Turboatom Director General Viktor Subotin and Director of the Atomkomplekt division of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom Ruslan Zhmudsky.
According to Subotin, the signed agreement is the first contract to modernize the flow section of this type of turbine in Ukraine. The company has already performed similar work for customers outside the country, including at reactor five of Kozloduy NPP (Bulgaria).
“An entire program to modernize the flow sections of the reactors of Ukraine, both of our turbines and of Russian ones, is ahead,” the press service said, citing Subotin.
In turn, Zhmudsky said that the signed contract is part of the approved five-year modernization program.
“The program is designed until 2024, and in the situation that has developed now (namely, lack of funding for the construction of new reactors), the modernization of existing equipment will give us up to 10% of additional capacity,” he said.
According to Deputy Director General of Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP Andriy Petruk, the plant has been using Turboatom’s equipment for many years.
“The most important thing for us is the import substitution program, with which Turboatom helps us. The modernization, the contract for which has been signed, will increase the electric power by approximately 100 MW,” he said.
According to Turboatom General Designer Yevhen Levchenko, the five-year program provides for the modernization of seven more of the same reactors: one at Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP and six at Zaporizhia NPP.
“The next step is the modernization not of our turbines, but of the turbines manufactured by Russia’s Power Machines,” he added.
The Rivne nuclear power plant on July 18 reduced the output of its power unit No.1 (VVER-440) to 50%, having disconnected the TG-2 turbo generator at 05:26 a.m. Kyiv time on Thursday, July 18, after the leakiness of the condensate electric pump line of a turbine unit had been revealed, National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom’s press service said.
The causes of the incident are being checked. The TG-2 turbo generator is to be put into operation before 02:00 p.m. on the same day.
Energoatom said the incident is rated as “zero,” according to the INES nuclear event assessment scale, or “out-of-scale.”
Thus, as of Thursday morning, 10 of the 15 power units of four operating Ukrainian nuclear power plants were in operation.
