“TVEL is heavily engaged in developing new types of nuclear fuel. One of them is the so called accident tolerant fuel. Apart from accident prevention, it is more cost efficient as it extends the fuel cycle. I can say with certainty that our research results in this field are ahead of competitors. I believe we will be able to put this fuel on the market in late 2019,” Natalya Nikipelova said.

At present, TVEL invests about 5% of its revenue in different areas of research.

Accident tolerant fuel will mitigate the risks of core meltdown and hydrogen explosions caused by the zirconium-steam reaction. TVEL may become the first company in the world to commercialize this type of fuel.