Refuelling

The reactors in the OL1 and OL2 power plant units each contain 500 fuel assemblies. During each annual outage, about one quarter of these assemblies are removed and replaced with fresh ones. Also, the placement of the assemblies remaining in the reactor is changed according to a predetermined refuelling plan.

Refuelling is designed so that the reactor will run as economically as possible while maintaining a sufficient safety margin. The aim is to extract as much energy as possible from the fuel, thereby reducing the amount of waste generated, as the fuel lasts longer.

After being removed from the reactor, the spent fuel assemblies are placed in pools in the reactor hall to cool down for a few years. Then, they are moved to the interim storage for spent fuel, or KPA storage, at the power plant site.


Final repository for spent fuel.


Every year, about one quarter of the fuel in the reactor is replaced with fresh fuel. The new fuel assemblies can be identified in this picture by their lighter colour.