Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Russian state corporation Rosatom launched in test mode a carbothermic synthesis line on a module for the production of innovative nuclear fuel for the fourth generation BREST-OD-300 reactor.

The line was launched during the ATOMEXPO-2024 international forum in Sochi.

The event was attended by Director General of the Rosatom State Corporation Alexey Likhachev, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, and Director General of the World Nuclear Association Sama Bilbao y Leon.

Participants in the teleconference from Seversk were the scientific director of the “Breakthrough” project direction of the State Corporation “Rosatom” Evgeny Adamov, as well as Sergey Kotov, the general director of the Siberian Chemical Combine (JSC “Siberian Chemical Combine”, an enterprise of the fuel division of Rosatom), on the site of which the construction of a unique experimental demonstration energy complex (ODEC) within the framework of the strategic project “Breakthrough”.

ODEC is a cluster of nuclear technologies of the future, which includes three interconnected facilities that have no analogues in the world: a module for the production (fabrication/refabrication) of uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel, a power unit with an innovative IV generation fast neutron reactor BREST-OD-300, and also a module for processing irradiated fuel. Thus, for the first time in world practice, a nuclear power plant with a fast reactor and an on-site closed nuclear fuel cycle will be built on one site.

The fuel fabrication/refabrication module is the first of the ODEC facilities to be put into operation, and all necessary work is planned to be completed by the end of 2024. The first of the technological stages of the unique production was the carbothermic synthesis line, which will be used in the process of producing fuel pellets: from the section of dosing, mixing and granulation of the powder to sintering the pellets in a carbothermic synthesis furnace.

“Rosatom’s strategic line is a transition to two-component nuclear energy with the widespread introduction of fast reactor technologies and a closed nuclear fuel cycle. However, achieving strategic goals means enormous work “on the ground” to solve hundreds of scientific, technological and production problems. In addition to the advanced technologies of generation IV reactors, the Breakthrough project draws on a colossal layer of future technologies in the production and reprocessing of nuclear fuel, and this is the most complex science-intensive chemical engineering. The future launch of a module for the production of SNUP fuel is the first milestone of the Breakthrough project, towards which we are confidently moving. Everything at this facility is unique: the technology itself, each piece of equipment, and its layout; Each production site is a solution to a technological problem that no one in the world has ever taken on,” commented Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the Rosatom State Corporation.

“At the international level, the role of nuclear generation as a powerful source of green energy is generally recognized, without which it is impossible to ensure high-quality provision of humanity’s growing energy needs. Despite the safety of existing nuclear energy technologies, it is necessary to further systematically improve the safety of nuclear industry technologies throughout their entire life cycle, apply not intermediate, but final solutions for spent fuel management, fully utilize the energy potential of uranium raw materials, and strengthen the nonproliferation regime. This can only be done within the framework of fourth-generation energy systems based on fast neutron reactors. Fast reactors need new, dense, optimal fuel. We not only chose nitride of a mixture of uranium and plutonium as such fuel, but also justified its performance to the level that is familiar to us today at nuclear power plants, where we use uranium dioxide,” said Evgeniy, scientific director of the “Proryv” project direction at Rosatom State Corporation. Adamov.

The IV generation fast neutron reactor BREST-OD-300 will be the world’s first reactor plant with a lead coolant; its architecture is based on the principles of so-called natural safety.

The efficiency of the reactor will also be ensured through the use of innovative mixed dense nitride uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel (the so-called SNUP fuel). It consists entirely of secondary products of the nuclear fuel cycle - depleted uranium and plutonium.

Thus, its production and implementation will make it possible to significantly expand the resource base of nuclear energy, reprocess irradiated fuel assemblies to produce fresh fuel instead of storing it, and also radically reduce the formation of nuclear waste and its activity.

Unlike classical nuclear fuel based on enriched uranium dioxide, SNUP fuel cannot be produced using standard technology and equipment. In addition to non-standard fuel composition materials, the use of radioactive plutonium recovered from spent nuclear fuel is also a key factor. In order to prevent high dose loads on personnel, the production of uranium-plutonium fuel must be as automated as possible, virtually unmanned.

For the production of SNUP fuel at the Experimental Demonstration Energy Complex, four technological lines will be used: a line for the carbothermal synthesis of mixed uranium and plutonium nitrides, a line for the production of SNUP fuel pellets (thus, the production of pellets will be carried out in two stages), a fuel element assembly line ( fuel rods), as well as a production line for complete fuel cassettes. Currently, commissioning of installed equipment is underway on the production lines.