LOVIISA, Finland, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Finnish utility

Fortum said on Monday it has successfully started

using nuclear fuel from U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric as it

seeks to replace Russian supply.

Fortum's Loviisa power plant in Finland has depended on

nuclear fuel from TVEL, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned

power company Rosatom, but Fortum began looking to replace the

this in 2022 after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"The loading of the new fuel is a significant milestone that

guarantees a reliable Western alternative for fuel," Fortum said

in a statement, adding that the first Westinghouse fuel had been

loaded during the power plant's annual outage in August.

"The safe and reliable operation of our Loviisa Nuclear

Power Plant is crucial for Finland's security of supply".

Fortum's two nuclear reactors in Loviisa account for around

10% of total power production in Finland, which has expressed

concerns over potential interruptions in fuel deliveries from

Russia after its decision to join NATO last year.

"For the first time in Loviisa's history, we have fully

Western fuel," Fortum's head of nuclear generation Petra

Lundstrom said, adding it included uranium, the fuel assemblies

and also the enrichment process originating from Western

sources, without providing further details.

CEO Markus Rauramo said on Monday Fortum would respect its

existing contracts with TVEL, which run until 2027 and 2030.

Last year, the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) said imports of

nuclear fuel and services from Russia to the European Union

increased in 2023 compared with 2021.

The surge was linked to several EU countries including

Finland stockpiling nuclear fuel, the agency said.

Five EU states - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland,

Hungary and Slovakia - operate Russia-designed VVER reactors,

which use Russian fuel.

With the exception of Hungary, Westinghouse is working with

the other four EU states to transition from Russian to Western

nuclear fuel and also supplies fuel to Ukraine.

However, Europe's dependency on Russian supplies continues

in certain parts of the supply chain, Westinghouse president of

nuclear fuel Tarik Choho said.

"When it comes to fuel fabrication, Westinghouse could

supply all that the European Union needs but today Russia is

very dominant in conversion and enrichment," Choho told Reuters.