Westinghouse’s Fuel Collaborations on Current and New Technologies
Westinghouse Electric Company (ENS Corporate Member) has recently signed new agreements focusing on nuclear fuel for operational and new technologies.
First, WEC and ENUSA renewed their 50-year long partnership with a new Technology Agreement (WETCA), which extends the current license
agreement for 10 years.
Westinghouse and ENUSA also signed a contract under which Enusa will fabricate VVER-440 fuel assemblies for Fortum to deliver to the Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant in Finland later this year. This agreement continues the VVER-440 fuel cooperation announced in September 2022.
Through the Westinghouse-ENUSA partnership, nearly 750 VVER-440 fuel assemblies were delivered to the Loviisa Nuclear Plant in Finland between 2002 and 2007. The companies also collaborated on the European Supply of Safe Nuclear Fuel (ESSANUF) HORIZON 2020 project from 2015 to 2017.
Westinghouse is currently leading a consortium selected by the European Union (EU) to develop and deliver a secure nuclear fuel supply to Russian-designed pressurized water reactors VVER, operating in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
The APIS project (Accelerated Program for Implementation of Secure VVER fuel Supply) is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation, with a contribution of €10 million from the Euratom Work Programme 2023-2025.
The importance of the diversification of nuclear fuel suppliers has been often underlined by the Euratom Supply Agency (ENS Member) which reminded us that diversification is paramount to prevent excessive dependence of EU users on any single third-country supplier and to achieve the security of supply of nuclear fuels in the medium and long term.
The two companies have partnered since 1974 under a Pressurized-Water Reactor (PWR) fuel technology transfer agreement in support of nuclear plants in Spain, Belgium, and France among others.
Read the full Westinghouse Press Release.
On 18th March, Westinghouse and Urenco have signed a first agreement for long-term fuel enrichment. 
Under the agreement, Urenco will provide enrichment of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to Westinghouse for five years of deployment for the company’s next-generation, eVinci microreactor.
This microreactor will be capable of producing 5 MW of electricity, over 13 MW of high temperature heat, or operating in combined heat and power mode. It can also support a wide variety of applications, like electricity and heating for data centers, remote communities and islands, industrial sites, universities, marine propulsion, hydrogen generation and water purification.
Read the full Westinghouse Press Release.
