20 Oct (NucNet): Construction of Russia’s Beloyarsk-5 BN-1200 fast neutron nuclear reactor will begin after 2020, Sergei Kiriyenko, director-general of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said.
Mr Kiriyenko said before construction can begin there are issues to be addressed related to the “technological aspects” of fast neutron reactors and the fast neutron reactor programme in Russia.
Russia is working on different technological aspects related to fast neutron reactors of various types, not only the BN type unit, Mr Kiriyenko said.
Some aspects are related to the choice of coolant for different fast neutron reactors and the fabrication of fuel for them, he said. “First we will have to carry out all necessary tests for the BN-800,” Mr Kiriyenko said.
According to Rosenergoatom, Russia’s nuclear power station operator, the Beloyarsk-4 BN-800 reactor will begin commercial operation by the end of 2014 after a problem with procurement of equipment is resolved.
Rosenergoatom said it is awaiting delivery of valves for the second auxiliary boiler, located in the turbine hall of the unit, from a Russian company after the components were not delivered from the original supplier in Ukraine.
The BN-800 will help Russia develop its fast neutron reactor technology and determine the programme’s future course, Mr Kiriyenko said.
Mr Kiriyenko also said Russia is implementing a project which includes demonstrating the nuclear fuel cycle for a lead-cooled fast neutron reactor called Brest-OD-300 and the production of nitride fuel for the reactor. Brest-OD-300, which will have thermal power of 700 megawatts, is scheduled to begin operation in 2020.
The Beloyarsk-4 BN-800 fast neutron reactor achieved first criticality on 27 June 2014. In July 2014 Rosatom said loading of nuclear fuel into the unit had been completed.
The Beloyarsk nuclear power station, in the Sverdlovsk region, near Yekaterinburg in central Russia, has two shut-down reactors and one in commercial operation.
The commercially operational reactor is Beloyarsk-3, a fast neutron reactor of the BN-600 design, a smaller version of the BN-800.
The Beloyarsk-5 BN-1200, a larger version of the BN-800, is also planned for the Beloyarsk site. The BN-1200 uses larger fuel elements than the BN-600 and BN-800 and has a simplified refuelling procedure.
The Russian government said in November 2013 that if the BN-1200 design is successful, two reactors of this type will be built at a new nuclear station called South Ural, about 200 kilometres southeast of Yekaterinburg. The units could enter commercial operation before 2030.
