OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2009.  Mashinostroitelny Zavod (Elemash, Elektrostal, Moscow region), subsidiary of TVEL OJSC, has successfully introduced a new technology of molding of components of fuel assemblies.

The moulds produced by the methods of precision casting and hot forging are of the same size as the finished parts. Low-waste and high-efficiency technologies have helped the company to reduce labor intensity, to improve performance, to reduce material consumption in producing components of fuel assemblies.

The economic effect of this innovation in 2008 was some 15mln RUR. “This direction has quite good prospects,” says Technical Director of Elemash Igor Petrov.

In Mar 2009 Elemash was granted a special award for the development of high-efficiency technology for production of components of fuel assemblies with the use of moulds produced by the methods of precision casting and hot forging.

The key factor of TVEL’s innovative activities is the presence of long-term contracts with consumers of nuclear and general industrial production. TVEL’s recent achievements on the WWER market, particularly, the victories in tenders for complex supply of nuclear fuel to nuclear power plants in Finland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and India are due mostly to the effective cooperation of science and production in Russia.

In its turn, TVEL spends quite big money on long-term advanced projects, purchase of equipment, reproduction and enlargement of personnel resources, creation of new jobs. The company actively finances research and development projects and innovations.