MOSCOW, July 11 (RAPSI) – The Moscow Commercial Court had passed a judgement in favor of Russian TVEL, a fuel company of Rosatom, which sought to protect its business reputation in a suit against Ukrainian Internet-portal Delo.ua (Ekonomika Communication Hub) and US Wesinghouse, a TVEL press-release reads on Monday.

The ground for the TVEL claim was the fact that on 23 June 2014, Delo.ua made public an interview with Michael Kirst, Westinghouse’s Vice President Strategy and External Relations Europe, Middle East and Africa, in which it was alleged that faults in Westinghouse fuel assemblies resulted not from the inherent characteristics of the US fuel, but from deformation of Russian fuel assemblies in the mixed zone of a nuclear reactor.

In July 2014, TVEL lodged a claim with the Moscow Commercial Court, which, on 28 June 2016 ruled that the disseminated information was at variance with the facts and discredited TVEL’s business reputation. The court ruled that the disseminator of this information, the Ekonomika Communication Hub, should publish its judgement on Delo.ua web site.

TVEL is the major provider of fuel for Ukrainian nuclear plants. In 2014, according to reports, Ukraine and Westinghouse arranged to deliver US nuclear fuel to some blocks of Ukrainian NPPs till 2020. In 2012 and 2013, there were registered certain upsets in operation of fuel element arrays of US assembly.