Russia’s state atomic energy corporation – Rosatom – has announced the beginning of pilot operations of its nuclear fuel fabrication/refabrication facility or its BREST-OD-300 reactor.
The BREST-OD-300 is a lead-cooled fast neutron reactor – and the beginning of pilot operations is a key milestone in the development of the Generation IV nuclear power system.
The unit for fabrication/refabrication nuclear fuel for the innovative BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor was put into pilot operation in Seversk, Tomsk Region, West Siberia.
Rosatom says that it is the first of the three facilities of the unique Generation IV Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC), which is under construction as part of the strategic project “Proryv” (the Breakthrough) on site of the Siberian Chemical Combine.
Manufacturing of nuclear fuel has already begun
Rosatom, through a press release on December 25, 2024, announced that the automated facility has already made mockup fuel bundles of the BREST-OD-300 core design with depleted uranium nitride fuel pellets.
The fuel fabrication facility includes four production sites: carbothermal synthesis of mixed uranium and plutonium nitrides, fabrication of fuel pellets, manufacturing of fuel elements, and assembly of complete fuel bundles.
As of now, the staff is involved in the fabrication of BREST-OD-300 bundles with depleted uranium fuel matrix in compliance with the current license of Rostechnadzor (the Russian industrial and nuclear regulator).
After receiving approval from the regulator for handling plutonium, the staff will begin producing the target product – mixed dense nitride uranium-plutonium fuel (or the MNUP fuel).
The MNUP fuel is essential for achieving the maximum benefits from Russia’s IV generation fuel, reactor, and radiochemical technology, as per Rosatom.
Generation IV nuclear reactor with closed fuel cycle facility on single site
Russia plans to build a Generation IV nuclear power system that involves the application of various technologies that are united by a common result – higher fuel utilization efficiency, increased safety, energy efficiency, reduction of spent nuclear fuel, etc.
Thermal neutron reactors, which form the basis of the modern nuclear power industry, use about 1 percent of natural uranium, while the remaining 99 percent is sent for temporary storage or disposed of as radioactive waste.
The fast neutron reactors have the ability to efficiently utilize secondary products of the fuel cycle (in particular, plutonium) for power generation.
At the same time, having a high reproduction rate, fast reactors can produce more potential fuel than they consume, as well as “after-burn” (i.e., utilize with energy production) highly active transuranic elements (minor actinides).
Rosatom says that BREST-OD-300 will be the world’s first lead-cooled fast reactor – and will have a 300 MWe unit. The reactor’s efficiency will be ensured through the use of innovative MNUP fuel. It consists entirely of secondary products of the nuclear fuel cycle – depleted uranium and plutonium.
Russia plans to produce over 200 MNUP fuel bundles ahead of the initial core loading of the BREST-OD-300 reactor.
The pilot demonstration energy complex will comprise of three facilities: a unit for the manufacturing (fabrication/refabrication) of dense nitride uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel, a nuclear power plant with an innovative fast neutron lead-cooled reactor BREST-OD-300, and a unit for reprocessing of irradiated fuel.
“Thus, for the first time in the global practice, a NPP with a fast reactor and a stationary closed nuclear fuel cycle will be built on one site. After reprocessing, irradiated fuel will be sent for refabrication (i.e., re-manufacturing of fresh fuel). Thus, this system will become practically autonomous and independent of external supplies of energy resources,” the press release said.
“For this moment, Rosatom has the world’s furthest advancement in the development of Generation IV nuclear technologies. According to the IAEA classification, this implies higher efficiency in the use of fuel raw materials, increased safety standards for the operation of nuclear plants, as well as a significant reduction in the amount of nuclear waste generation,” Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom State Corporation, said.