On 21 December, 2006 in the city of  Espoo the representatives of TVEL Corporation and Fortum company, a leading energy concerns of the Nordic countries and Baltic States, signed the agreement for the continuation of fuel deliveries to the Loviisa nuclear power plant, owned by Fortum.

          At present Fortum is one of the leading energy concerns of the Nordic countries and Baltic region. We generate, transmit and sale electricity and heat, render services related to the management, operation and maintenance of power-producing enterprises. 

         The above agreement is the result of the TVEL’s victory in the international tender for fuel supply, announced by Fortum in October, 2005. Before that the British BNFL company delivered fuel to Loviisa-1.

         According to the agreement terms TVEL will supply a modified uranium-gadolinium fuel (the second-generation fuel with an increased fuel stack length, more efficient and safe) to both units of the Loviisa power plant up to the end of their lifetime. The first batch of the Russian fuel assemblies will be delivered to Loviisa in autumn 2008.

         “It was not an easy tender and our victory in the tender is another proof of the high level of the Russian nuclear technologies” acting President of JSC TVEL, Anton Badenkov commented on the tender results.

         Mr. Harri Tuomisto, President of Fortum Nuclear Services said: “We have been collaborating with TVEL for many years and are fully satisfied with the quality and reliability of the Russian fuel”.

         The Russian fuel has been supplied to the Finnish NPP since its commissioning. Starting from 1999 JSC TVEL has been supplying fuel to one of the Loviisa units as a result of winning the tender announced by the Finnish side in the end of 1998. The contract provides for the fuel deliveries to the unit 2 up to 2007 (the 2008 delivery as an option).

         The second-generation fuel to be supplied to the Loviisa NPP has been successfully operating at the Czech Dukovany as well as Slovak Mochovce  and Bohunice NPPs.

         Loviisa nuclear power plant was built according to the Soviet and Finish design with the participation of the USSR specialists. It has two power units with VVER-440 reactors. The first unit was commissioned in 1977, the second – in 1980. In the 90-ties the two units were upgraded, the capacity of each unit increased from 440 MW up to 510 MW. At present Loviisa is one of the best nuclear power plants in Europe according to the safety and economy indications. On 1 November 2006 Fortum applied to STUK for obtaining a license to extend the plant operation till the end of 2030.

         The share of nuclear energy in the national energy balance of Finland makes about 26%. In the country there are two operating nuclear power plants: Loviisa and Olkiluoto.

          The fuel to be delivered to Loviisa will be manufactured by one of the leading manufacturers of the Russian Corporation, JSC Mashinostroitelny Zavod (Elektrostal, Moscow region).

         Winning the tender at Loviisa NPP is the second victory of the TVEL Corporation in the international tenders for nuclear fuel supply in 2006. In May the Corporation won the tender at Temelin NPP for fuel deliveries in the period 2010-2020 (our competitor, Westinghouse has been supplying fuel to the Temelin both units since its commissioning in 2000).

         Comments of Mr. P. Aksenov, Chief of Design Department of OAO MSZ.

         Mashinostroitelny Zavod has been manufacturing fuel for Loviisa NPP since 1977. Over the last 5 years there have been no cases of failed fuel assemblies and we have not received any claims on the operation of our fuel assemblies from the Finnish side. 

         The activities aimed at power upgrade of the Loviisa NPP started in 1966. When all the required calculations had been performed, large investments were made in the plant modernization to operate it at an increased power.

         To upgrade the plant power a new fuel design was required, as the increased power requires the increased quantity of uranium being loaded into the reactor core.

A tender for such fuel supply was announced where two companies, the Russian and British BNFL were bidding. BNFL developed its fuel design that satisfied the Finnish side and in 1998 the first fuel assemblies were loaded into Loviisa-1. Following the successful operation of this fuel a 5-year contract was signed with BNFL. In 2005 one more tender was announced for the fuel supply to the Loviisa NPP, which resulted in singing 2-year contracts with BNFL (for the fuel delivery to Loviisa-1) and TVEL (for the fuel delivery to Loviisa-2). Thus for seven years JSC Mashinostroitelny Zavod was manufacturing only one fuel reload per year for Loviisa instead of the previous two.

When the next tender followed, the TVEL Corporation offered an advanced fuel design to the Finnish side (second generation fuel for VVER-440). This fuel design was developed in 2000-2002 and manufactured by JSC MSZ in 2002. The fuel characteristics allow a more efficient usage of uranium being loaded into the reactor as well as to improve the NPP economy.  The working fuel assemblies (PK-2) allow to extend the fuel campaign from 4 to 5 years. For JSC MSZ it means, on the one hand, that a decreased amount of fuel should be manufactured because a smaller number of fuel assemblies is required for annual reloads, but on the other hand, as the technical characteristics of the fuel are improved, it is getting more attractive for customers.

JSC Mashinostroitelny Zavod offers to consumers the fuel which characteristics enable a nuclear power plant to operate in an optimal mode meeting the customer’s demands in electricity.

 The VVER-440 fuel (PK-2) to be delivered to Loviisa has an increased fuel column length, improved water-uranium ratio (so fuel utilization becomes more efficient)  and a burnable absorber, gadolinium, that is integrated into it. A demountable fuel rod design is used in PK-2 providing for remote removal of irradiated fuel for the purpose of inspections.  This feature is very important for the customer because in Finland a decision was made to keep the spent fuel in the country: it is placed under controlled storage, followed by final disposal.

It is also worth mentioning that the fuel rods for modified fuel assemblies will be manufactured without acid etching and anodizing operations.

The tender ended with the victory of the Russian vendor confirms that the fuel design and fuel cycle characteristics are more beneficial for the customer than the alternative proposals of other companies. Our current task is to prepare a complete document package for the Finnish side to obtain a license for using the fuel with the new characteristics at the Loviisa NPP.