Energoatom: Ukraine will no longer transport spent nuclear fuel to Russia

Acting President of Ukraine's nuclear power giant Energoatom Petro Kotin has said Ukraine will no longer transport spent nuclear fuel from the country's nuclear power plants (NPPs) to Russia.

Read alsoSpent nuclear fuel storage to be built near Chornobyl by year-end: Energoatom"We've decided to completely abandon shipments of spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Ukraine's need for these services has been finally eliminated. This significantly strengthens our state's energy security," Energoatom's press service quoted Kotin as saying on February 16.

Meanwhile, the country's Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility (CSFSF), which is in the Chornobyl exclusion zone in Kyiv region, will be able to accept the first batch of such fuel from Ukrainian NPPs as early as in July 2021.

Kotin said the company completed the construction of all structural unit and infrastructure required to accept and store spent nuclear fuel at the CSFSF site back in December 2020.

What is more, commissioning and testing of equipment, including that supplied from the U.S.-based company Holtec are underway. The CSFSF's first launch complex is expected to start operating in the second quarter of 2021 after the construction of a 43-kilometer railway track to the storage facility, which will connect it with the country's railway network, is competed.

CSFSF project: Background

• The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the CSFSF's first launch complex took place on December 22, 2020, with the participation of Energoatom top managers and representatives of the companies involved in the project.
• The construction of the CSFSF, funded by American partners, has been underway since 2017.