Westinghouse uses 3D printing for VVER-440 fuel assemblies

Westinghouse Electric recently achieved another success by producing its 1,000th current fuel plate using 3D printing. This is an important achievement for the industry: the first time that 3D manufacturing has been used to manufacture safety-related components that have entered series production.

Current additive manufacturing wafers are installed in the VVER-440 fuel assemblies, allowing the redesign of the lower part of collections. This ensures their more reliable operation.

"This achievement demonstrates the development of additive manufacturing from prototyping to full-scale production. In addition, it creates concrete value for our customers», – said Lou Martinez Sancho, chief technical officer and executive vice president of research and innovation at Westinghouse.
This is Westinghouse's achievement in additive manufacturing technology, which confirms the company's strategic plans to improve safety, efficiency, sustainability and energy security.< /p>

This move is a continuation of Westinghouse's leadership in using additive manufacturing in the nuclear industry to achieve reductions in production costs and time, as well as to implement advanced energy generation solutions.

In 2015, the company held the first in the history of research on radiation exposure of nuclear reactor components manufactured using additive manufacturing. In 2020, Westinghouse installed the first 3D-printed safety component – plug device – in an active commercial reactor.