Rosatom has begun construction of the newest fast-neutron nuclear reactor BREST-OD-300 in Seversk (Tomsk Region). About it informs press service of the state corporation. The cost of the work is estimated at 100 billion rubles.
“Construction of a 300 MW nuclear power unit with an innovative fast reactor BREST-OD-300 with lead coolant has begun in Seversk, Tomsk Region, at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine,” the message says. It is noted that the reactor will essentially be a “closed cycle” production. In traditional nuclear reactors all over the world, the coolant is water.
As the scientific director of Rosatom’s enterprise Dollezhal Research and Design Institute of Power Engineering (NIKIET) Yevgeny Adamov told TASS, the cost of building the reactor is about 100 billion rubles.
Currently, the only fast breeder reactors operating in Russia are two BN-800 at the Beloyarsk NPP in the Sverdlovsk Region. One of the units was built in the Soviet era, the second – already in 2015. At the same time, both reactors use a traditional coolant – water. Rosatom announced plans to build a new generation fast neutron reactor in Seversk back in 2012. At that time, the state corporation estimated the construction of the unit itself at 25 billion rubles, and another 17 billion rubles. it was planned to spend on the on-site nuclear fuel cycle. In total, by 2020, it was intended to invest 43-45 billion rubles in this production. However, as a result, the start date of work was shifted to 2021, and the cost of construction increased.
Fast reactors do not use neutron moderators. They are capable of converting spent nuclear fuel into new, forming a closed cycle. This makes it possible to use about 30% of the potential of nuclear fuel instead of the currently available 3% at traditional nuclear power plants.
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