Work insights
The APIS project has a rather simple work plan structure consisting of 11 work packages, which is suitable for the complexity and size of the project. The work plan is logically planned and is linked to available human resources as well as infrastructure at partner organizations to create maximum efficiency of the implementation and quality of the results of the project. Most of the work packages are parallel to each other, yet there are clear milestones. The project life cycle is planned for 36 months starting from 1 January 2023. The work packages are:
• Developing fixed and follower VVER-440 fuel designs for delivery in 2023 as a solution to the emergent European energy situation, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Performing the analyses and tests for these fuel designs required to meet applicable safety standards, design criteria and regulatory requirements.
• Upgrading or newly design necessary test equipment and test loops. This is required due to the long time that has elapsed since VVER-440 fuel was last produced within the European Union.
• Developing fixed and follower VVER-440 fuel designs for delivery in 2024 for improved fuel economics and to enable operation in all EU plants without restrictions.
• Performing the analyses and tests for these fuel designs required to meet applicable safety standards, design criteria and regulatory requirements.
• Developing a VVER-1000 fuel design with reduced pressure drop, improved thermal margins and improved strength targeting Lead Test Assemblies deliveries in 2025 and onwards.
• Evaluate design improvements in terms of ADOPT pellets and oxide coating for introduction earliest 2025.
• Initiate the development of the next generation VVER-440 fuel designs to further improve fuel economics, targeting deliveries from 2027 and onwards.
The objective is to identify a general approach to fast licensing and deploy alternative fuel for VVER reactors in the EU and Ukraine that satisfy international safety standards (e.g., the Standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)). The work package will reach this objective by:
• Completing the missing licensing information and revise accordingly the integrated VVER 440 licensing scope and the “Interface Document for Fuel Licensing” developed by the previous ESSANUF project (Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 671546) and, in this way, validate the approach for the entire European Union as well as in Ukraine.
• The analyses performed for fuel and core operability will be defined as a general approach for all countries according to high safety standards accepted internationally.
• Acceptance for this approach will be ensured by workshops with Regulatory organizations in Finland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine and the Utilities.
• Re-qualification of existing manufacturing equipment.
• Work related to procurement of manufacturing equipment.
• Supply chain activities, like establishment of sub-suppliers and qualification of sub-suppliers.
• Providence of increased security of supply of nuclear fuel for VVER reactors by ensuring capacity and redundancy by the involvement of the two fuel manufacturing plants WSE (Sweden), and ENUSA (Spain).
• Investigate the fuel design impact on the lifetime of a nuclear power plant.
• Investigate different shielding concepts to protect the reactor vessel and reactor internals.
• Performance of the first inspections of modern Western VVER-440 fuel by using new inspection equipment especially designed for the VVER-440 plants.
• Analyses of inspection results.
• Applying the inspection results for optimizing fuel performance codes and supporting future fuel deliveries to VVER-440 plants in Ukraine and the rest of Europe.
