Westinghouse, PJSC Turboatom team up to boost Ukraine's nuclear capacity

Westinghouse Electric Co. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ukraine’s PJSC Turboatum this week, agreeing to pursue increased capacity in the country’s nuclear power plants, and others around the world, through cooperative efforts.

Westinghouse entered into the agreement in pursuit of increased capacity for reactors owned by National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom (NNEGC Energoatom), which could be an important step toward Ukranian energy independence, as the country’s reactors are currently underutilized, but have strong performance and technological potentials. Specifically, Energoatom is looking to improve its VVER-1000 (V-320) reactors, of which there are 13 in the country with a 1,000 megawatt gross electrical capacity, to 110 percent of their typical performance.

“This strategic cooperation with Turboatom is an excellent example of how Westinghouse is committed to providing its customer, Energoatom, with innovative technical solutions to further improve plant efficiency and safety,” Aziz Dag, Westinghouse's vice president and managing director for Northern Europe, said. “We also look forward to working with other local Ukrainian suppliers to support Energoatom’s capacity upgrade project.”

This MOU expands on decades of efforts by Westinghouse to improve the Ukrainian market, where the company has established an engineering center and has worked to train hundreds of Ukrainians on the use of international standards.