INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS INSPECTING WESTINGHOUSE
FUEL AT UKRAINE'S YUZHNOUKRAINSK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007

KYIV - An international group of experts has carried out a regular
inspection of an experimental batch of nuclear fuel produced by U.S.-based
Westinghouse, which has been carrying out checks of the core of the
Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear plant's third reactor since August 2005, said the
press service of NJSC Energoatom, the operator of Ukraine's NPPs, on
Wednesday.

"Almost all of these six nuclear fuel assemblies were inspected today, they
look normal and can continue to be use," reads a press release quoting
Volodymyr Krasnorutsky, the director of the Kharkiv-based Center for
projecting active zones and one of the experts.

According to Energoatom, along with carrying out visual inspections of the
nuclear fuel assemblies during the checks, the experts will include in their
report on the nuclear fuel information on the operating characteristics
recorded over the past year of the assemblies' use. Inspection measures are planned during the regular loading of nuclear fuel assemblies into the
reactor's core.

As was reported, Energoatom and Westinghouse in 2000 launched a project on the certification of nuclear fuel produced by the U.S. company. The project will be summed up in 2013. If successful, Ukraine will have a potential U.S. alternative to Russia as a supplier of nuclear fuel.