U.S. moves in on Russia’s nuclear energy turf in Ukraine
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/us-moves-in-on-russias-nuclear-energy-turf-in-ukraine-345793.html
Ukraine’s energy dependence on Russia subsided yet again this month when state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom on April 11 concluded a deal with America’s Westinghouse to supply fuel rods until 2020. The agreement came more than two weeks before Ukraine signed a memorandum with Slovakia for the supply of up to 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to replace Russian blue fuel imports. The deal also comes on the heels of a scandal involving dented rods, competing interests and conflicting evidence.
L’accord a été signé le 11/04, le lendemain de son annonce comme probable ►http://seenthis.net/messages/246030 (avec les réserves de Rosatom)
L’accord sur le gaz avec la Slovaquie, c’était il y a 3 jours ►http://seenthis.net/messages/252000
Les crayons de combustible se déformaient dans les assemblages entrainant des risques pour . Pour Westinghouse, c’étaient les russes, pour TVEL les états-uniens. En fait, les deux !…
According to Forbes, in April 2012, after all rods were removed from an SUNPP reactor following a scheduled period of use, plant technicians discovered that in fact both the American and Russian rods had suffered dents and scratches to their containment structures, which threatened the integrity of the radioactive material inside. Nevertheless, the chief inspector of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate Michael Gashev recommended to an Energoatom commission that it only forbid the use of American rods.
L’accord prévoit un test de validation avant extension de l’utilisation du combustible provenant de Westinghouse.
As per the amended contract, in December 2014-January 2015 during scheduled maintenance the first batch of the modified rods will be loaded into the third unit of the SUNPP for a test period to collect data for approval by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate. If all goes well, the rods can then enter regular usage.
Néanmoins, la coopération avec la Russie dans le domaine de l’énergie nucléaire se poursuit. Et Rosatom espère participer à la privatisation de Turboatom reportée pour les raisons que l’on sait…
Furthermore, Russia’s nuclear energy giant Rosatom is interested in privatizing Turboatom, a highly profitable Kharkiv-based producer of turbines for nuclear power plants. Privatization was expected to happen this year, though it was postponed due to political instability in the country and thus far remains unclear.
