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Westinghouse Asks EU to Tackle Russian Monopoly on Nuclear Fuel

The Moscow TimesAug. 21 2014 21:23 Last edited 21:24

U.S.-Japanese atomic group Westinghouse is lobbying the EU to break Eastern European countries' reliance on Russian nuclear fuel used to power their Soviet-era power plants, the Financial Times reported.

The diplomatic spat between the West and Russia over Ukraine has highlighted Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas amid fears of supply disruptions in winter, but Westinghouse has said that Brussels also needs to offset Russia's dominance in nuclear fuel supply to the bloc's east.

Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic exclusively use nuclear fuel rods supplied by Russian company TVEL to power their VVER nuclear reactors, which cover a significant portion of their domestic electricity needs, leaving them vulnerable to Russian retaliation against EU sanctions.

themoscowtimes