Rosatom has commenced pilot operations at a fuel fabrication facility for the BREST-OD-300 fast reactor. The facility is the first of three components of the unique Generation IV Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC), which is being constructed as part of the “Proryv” (“Breakthrough”) strategic project within Rosatom’s Fuel Division.
The cutting-edge, fully automated facility has already successfully produced the first mock-up fuel bundles designed for the BREST-OD-300 core, using depleted uranium nitride fuel pellets. All production areas of the new facility have undergone thorough testing.
“At 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,” commented Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom.
All these principles are fully consistent with the technological solutions adopted at the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex, such as the fuel made of depleted uranium and plutonium, the BREST reactor facility based on the principles of natural safety, and the latest more efficient radiochemical technologies for irradiated fuel reprocessing,” he added
Currently, the facility operators are mastering the technology and gaining expertise in the fabrication of BREST-OD-300 bundles with a depleted uranium fuel matrix. Following approval from the regulator for handling plutonium, Russian engineers will begin producing the target product – mixed dense nitride uranium-plutonium fuel (MNUP fuel). This development will fully realise the advantages of Russian Generation IV fuel, reactor, and radiochemical technologies. Before the initial core loading of the BREST-OD-300, the fabrication of over 200 MNUP fuel bundles is planned.
Rosatom scientists have developed a unique technology for producing uranium-plutonium nitride fuel. Experimental assemblies containing MNUP fuel elements were successfully tested in the BOR-60 fast research reactor and the commercial BN-600 fast reactor at Beloyarsk NPP in Russia. The results of these irradiation tests provided crucial data needed to validate the initial core loading of the BREST-OD-300, including determining the level of nuclear fuel burnup that is sufficient at this stage.
The Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex will comprise three unique interconnected facilities: a unit for the manufacture (fabrication/refabrication) of dense nitride uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel, a nuclear power plant featuring the innovative fast neutron lead-cooled reactor BREST-OD-300, and a unit for reprocessing irradiated fuel. This will mark the first instance in global practice where a nuclear power plant (NPP) with a fast reactor and a stationary closed nuclear fuel cycle will be constructed at a single site. Following reprocessing, the irradiated fuel will be sent for refabrication (i.e., re-manufacturing of fresh fuel). Consequently, this system will achieve practical autonomy, becoming independent of external energy resource supplies.
BREST-OD-300 will be the world’s first lead-cooled fast reactor, designed with the principles of natural safety in mind. The efficiency of the reactor will be further enhanced by using innovative MNUP fuel, which consists entirely of secondary products from the nuclear fuel cycle—namely, depleted uranium and plutonium. As such, its production and operation will significantly expand the resource base of the nuclear power industry, facilitate the reprocessing of irradiated fuel assemblies into fresh fuel rather than storing them, and drastically reduce the volume and activity level of nuclear waste generated.
Thermal neutron reactors, which form the backbone of the modern nuclear power industry, utilise approximately 1% of natural uranium, while the remaining 99% is either temporarily stored or disposed of as radioactive waste. Fast neutron reactors offer a crucial advantage by efficiently utilising secondary products of the fuel cycle (particularly plutonium) for power generation. Additionally, fast reactors possess a high reproduction rate, allowing them to generate more potential fuel than they consume, as well as to “after-burn” (i.e., utilise for energy production) highly active transuranic elements (minor actinides).
According to the classification adopted by the IAEA, Generation IV nuclear power systems implement various technologies that share a common goal: enhanced fuel utilisation efficiency, increased safety, improved energy efficiency, and reduced spent nuclear fuel, among other benefits.
Generation IV nuclear power systems have the potential to radically transform the nuclear power industry, primarily through a new level of safety, an expanded fuel repertoire, and a significant decrease in radioactive waste. Russia is at the forefront of developing Generation IV technologies: the Beloyarsk NPP has begun pre-project work on constructing the BN-1200M power unit, while in the Tomsk region, the world’s first NPP powered by the BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled reactor and a stationary closed nuclear fuel cycle is being built on the same site.
