OREANDA-NEWS. July 21, 2010. According to TVEL OJSC, in 2011 Machine-Building Plant OJSC (a subsidiary of TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom State Corporation) will produce the first consignment of nuclear fuel for floating power units (FPU) reactor cores.

On June 30, 2010 at Baltic Plant in Saint Petersburg the first floating power unit “Academician Lomonosov” was launched. This power unit is to be loaded with the fuel of Machine-Building Plant OJSC production.

According to TVEL OJSC, “the first consignment of nuclear fuel for low-powered floating nuclear thermal power plants is to be produced in 2011. For nuclear fuel production an innovative technology will be used – zirconium laser treatment by fiber laser installation. Using this technology we can perform cutting of all zirconium material at the new equipment”.

Machine-Building Plant OJSC is one of the largest producers of the fuel for nuclear power plants in the world, 58 nuclear reactors in 15 European and Asian countries operate on nuclear fuel produced by Machine-Building Plant OJSC. The plant produced fuel rod array for VVER-400, VVER-1000, RBMK-1000, BN-600 reactors for NPPs of Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Finland, Czechia. In collaboration with Areva NP fuel rod arrays for Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland are produced. Besides, the enterprise produces fuel rod arrays for reactor installations pf RF Navy and research-and-development reactors.