EnCore, developed by Westinghouse, is expected to improve safety and offer operational savings and efficiencies at nuclear power plants.
Westinghouse said it will supply EDF with lead test rod (LTR) assemblies from its fuel production facility in Västerås, Sweden, by 2023.
The initiative includes the licensing, qualification, manufacture, supply and operation of the LTRs one one of EDF’s 1,300-MW nuclear units in France. Westinghouse will carry out a post-irradiation study to verify the features of the fuel under operational conditions.
According to Westinghouse, this will be the largest research and development programme on the improved fuel that the company has carried out in Europe.
“Westinghouse is pioneering an industry-wide ATF initiative, with programmes delivered to US and European customers in 2019 and 2020,” said Tarik Choho, Westinghouse president of nuclear fuel.
In 2019 Westinghouse was awarded $93.6m in funding from the US Department of Energy in support of its EnCore fuel programme.
The first insertion of EnCore fuel assemblies into a commercial nuclear power plant was at Exelon Generation’s Byron-2 nuclear power plant in Illinois in 2019.
In January 2022 Westinghouse signed an agreement with US nuclear operator Southern Nuclear for the loading of EnCore test assemblies at the Vogtle-2 nuclear power unit in Georgia.
Westinghouse is one of three US nuclear fuel vendors working with the DOE to develop ATFs. Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US state of Tennessee said all three vendors are on track to have their fuels ready for widespread adoption by 2030.