Page 42 - bne Magazine August 2022

42 I Special Report bne August 2022
EU uranium supply sources in %, 2020
Hungary, however, remains committed to its nuclear ties to Russia. The expansion of the Paks NPP, involving two 1,200-MW VVER units, is due to be completed by Russian companies
by 2030. They will use Russian nuclear fuel supplied by TVEL.
Likewise Bulgaria, which has 2,000 MW of capacity at Kozlodui, receives all its nuclear fuel from Russia’s TVEL via its trading unit Techsnabexport.
In Ukraine, Energoatom decided after Russia’s invasion to stop using any more Russian nuclear fuel once stockpiles are used up in 2024, and will instead use Western fuel supplied by Westinghouse.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) noted in its recent nuclear report.
that one impact of the war could
be that heightened energy security concerns could bolster the case for nuclear energy in some countries
as they seek to reduce reliance on expensive and volatile fossil fuels and accelerate transitions.
However, it could also have negative impacts. Aside from the effects on public opinion of active conflict in the vicinity of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, the conflict raises questions about Russia’s future as a producer and exporter of nuclear fuel supplies.
Market share
Russia plays an even more significant role in the production of uranium fuel, accounting for 38% of
uranium processing (conversion)
Source: Euratom
under construction. They are at risk of operational difficulties or even outages without materials, equipment and services to maintain them.
Even the US relies on Russia
for 16% of its uranium, with another 30% from Russian allies Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
However, all is not lost, as in various segments of the value chain, from uranium mining and milling, conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication, various Western manufacturing companies can over time start producing replacements to overcome that supply challenge.
For example, Westinghouse already has a joint venture with Kazatomprom to provide fuel that can be used in Russian-designed VVER reactors.
European reactors
Russia is a major supplier of processed nuclear fuel to Russian-built reactors across Central and Eastern Europe and holds direct supply contracts
with utilities and plant operators.
Indeed, 18 out of 103 reactors in the EU, or 10% of EU nuclear capacity, use Russian fuel under contract with TVEL. These are in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland
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TVEL operates worldwide, supplying nuclear fuel to 73 VVER reactors inside Russia and in other countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, China, India and Iran, making up around
16% of the world market in 2020.
Many of the countries that import processed fuel from Russia are now reconsidering, with CEZ, the Czech state-owned electric utility, recently announcing it would obtain its fuel supplies for its Temelin nuclear power plant (NPP) from Westinghouse
and Framatome from 2024.
Slovakia has secured enough nuclear fuel from TVEL for the next year and has a contract with TVEL for four
“18 out of 103 reactors in the EU, or 10% of EU nuclear capacity, use Russian fuel under contract with TVEL”
more years, according to Euractiv, but the economy ministry has also began negotiations with Westinghouse, though it does not currently produce the fuel needed by Slovak nuclear power plants and it would also be more expensive.
worldwide and over 45% of fuel enrichment capacity in 2020.
Much of the uranium processed and enriched by Russia is sourced from Kazakhstan, which was