Sochi is hosting the 10th international forum Atomexpo 2018, where Belarus is also represented. On the sidelines of the event, Mikhail Mikhadziuk, Deputy Energy Minister of Belarus, made a number of statements that shed light on the future of the first Belarusian nuclear power plant, or, more precisely, for contracts for the supply of nuclear fuel to Astravets.
Today, there are 15 nuclear power reactors operating in Ukraine, of which 9 use Russian fuel, and the remaining six use the fuel of the US company Westinghouse.
We received a comment from the director of information support of the association “Ukrainian Nuclear Forum” Olga Kosharnaya, PhD in chemistry.
“Each monopoly is negative by its nature. First of all, it affects the prices. The second point, monopolism leads to technological degradation. We had big problems in developing the modified nuclear fuel. There were many cases in 2003-2004 of the nuclear fuel depressurization, which generally leads to the release of radioactivity and contamination of the first circuit,” said Olga Kosharnaya.
Currently, the Belarusian reactor cannot be used with any other fuel, said the guest.
