Finnish utility Fortum has loaded the first batch of VVER-440 fuel assemblies supplied by Westinghouse into Unit 2 of the Loviisa nuclear power station as it seeks to replace Russian supply.
Loviisa, which has two 507-MW VVER plants supplied by Russia, has depended on nuclear fuel from Tvel, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned power corporation Rosatom, but Fortum began looking to replace the this in 2022 after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The loading of the new fuel is a significant milestone that guarantees a reliable Western alternative for fuel,” Fortum said in a statement, adding that the first Westinghouse fuel had been loaded during the power plant’s annual outage in August.