Temelín switches from American to Russian fuel

The Temelín nuclear power plant will be switching from American to Russian fuel. The fuel, which has been provided until now by the US company Westinghouse, will be phased out of the first block over the next two months in favour of the new Russian provider TVEL, which won a 10-year tender for the contract in 2006. Temelín will shut down its first block on Friday evening to begin the change, which will involve 600 ČEZ employees and roughly 1000 workers from 50 supply companies. The fuel in the second block of the power station will be exchanged in the spring of next year.