Russia Wants To Make Belarus Spent Uranium Depot

Russia insists that Belarus bought fuel for the Astravets NPP exclusively from it, and refuses to dispose it afterwards.

The Russian supplier of nuclear fuel to the Astravets NPP hopes that Belarus will not seek alternative import markets. Vice-President of the TVEL company Oleg Grigoriev said this to tut.by, commenting on the statement of the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Uladzimir Siamashka on the possible diversification of the supply of fuel supplies for the nuclear power plant.

The TVEL company is a member of the state corporation Rosatom and is engaged in the production of nuclear fuel for NPPs of the Russian design. According to the original contract for the construction of the Belarusian NPP, it is to supply the first fuel to Belarus in the end of 2018.

— The Belarusian station will receive the most advanced fuels since the launch, and it will be granted exclusive prices, — Oleg Grigoriev said.

The day before, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Siamashka said at the forum "Atomexpo-2017" in Moscow, that Belarus was going to diversify the Russian deliveries of nuclear fuel and to buy it in other countries in the future.

Given that the quality of Russian nuclear fuel does not cause doubts — it is purchased by the Europeans and Americans, the issue of energy dependence on Russia remains actual.

— We have discussed diversification issues with Belarusians several times. So far, the final decision has remained unknown to us, — Vice-President of the TVEL company Oleg Grigoryev said. — We hope that the Belarusian partners are satisfied with the quality and reliability of our fuel and they do not need to go to other markets and to incur additional costs.

Belarus and Russia have also agreed that the spent fuel from the Belarusian NPP will be sent back to Russia for reprocessing and disposal.

So far, the contract terms regarding the delivery of Russian gas to the Belarusian NPP haven’t been finally agreed.

At a time, Ukraine signed an agreement with the Russian Federation on the export of nuclear fuel for its nuclear power plants till 2040. However, under the conditions of the political conflict the country completely replaced it with the US fuel. And now, it may suffer from it.

— We believe that they seriously violate the terms of the contract, and will take action to protect our interests, — Oleg Grigoriev said.

In addition, Russia refuses to take somebody else’s used fuel for the disposal.