Russian media and following them some Ukrainian ones started to float the "news" about the bankruptcy of the nuclear fuel supplier to Ukraine – the company "Westinghouse Electric". Rusmedia immediately drew horror stories in their usual manner – Ukrainian NPPs will be stopped; it's the end of the Ukrainian energy "independence"; Ukraine will come on bended knees to Russia begging for nuclear fuel; and since Ukraine does not have enough coal, and does not buy Russian gas, the collapse is inevitable. And, of course, it can be avoided only in one case – to fully resume the purchase of the Russian nuclear fuel.
SHORT BACKGROUND
On April 29, 2016, i.e. 11 months ago, the market value of the company "Westinghouse" dropped by $2 billion, according to the results of the fiscal year. The company faced problems due to the rising costs of implementation of the projects of construction of 4 nuclear power generating units at the NPP "Vogtle" (Georgia) and NPP "VC Summer" (South Carolina). In 2015 "Westinghouse" acquired the company "Stone & Webster" which carried out their construction. This deal brought the company not additional capitalization, but cost overruns. On December 27, 2016, the Japanese "Toshiba" reported multibillion-dollar losses because the activities of its subsidiary company "Westinghouse". In a few days "Toshibа" shares fell by more than 40%, it lost $6.5 billion of market value. I emphasize that we are talking about the events of the past - 2016 - year.
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Finally, it should be noted that the problems of the "Toshiba" nuclear business are concentrated in the sector of the construction of new reactors and geographically – in the United States. They do not relate to the segment of nuclear fuel production in Sweden, which is the liquid part of the corporate economy.
UKRAINIAN-SWEDISH-AMERICAN FUEL REALITIES
Now let's talk about Ukraine. How, on the basis of the above, will the events of intra-corporate level of the company "Toshiba" affect the production of nuclear fuel at the Swedish plant "Westinghouse Atom", which is a division of the "Westinghouse Electrik Sweden AB" in Västerås, and its delivery for the needs of Ukrainian NPPs?
The plant in Västerås has been functioning since 1966 and until 2000 was part of the famous Swedish energy concern ABB. The concern sold its nuclear business to the British Nuclear Fuels, which was subsequently bought by the Americans from "Westinghouse" which was later bought by the Japanese "Toshiba". The Swedes, among others, insisted that the origin of the company would be reflected in its name. So the full name "Westinghouse Electrik Sweden AB" just reflects the Swedish origin of technologies of nuclear fuel production, which were liked by the British and the Americans, who improved them, making it possible to master the production of fuel for Soviet/Russian reactors type VVER-1000.
I guess that corporate turbulence in "Toshiba" will not practically affect the work of the company "Westinghouse Electrik Sweden AB". And NNEGC "Energoatom" has deals just with this company. The company is and will remain a strategic partner for "Energoatom".
Full translation will be provided later
