The assemblies are scheduled to be used at the Rostov nuclear station. Photo courtesy Rosenergoatom. The first Russian-made nuclear fuel assemblies with experimental accident-tolerant fuel rods for commercial reactors have been manufactured and passed inspection at Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant, a subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s Tvel fuel company.

The assemblies are scheduled to be loaded into one of the four 950-MW VVER-1000 reactor units at the Rostov nuclear power station in the first quarter of 2020, Tvel said.

Each of the three TVS-2M fuel assemblies contains 12 accident-tolerant fuel rods with two different options for the cladding material either zirconium alloy with chromium coating, or chrome-nickel alloy. Both options make claddings more heat-resistant, Tvel said.

The nuclear industry has been aggressively developing different types of reactor fuels that are more robust and have improved performance during normal and accident conditions.