Rosatom fired a prominent scientist for criticizing the Proryv project

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Chief specialist of OKB "Gidropress" (owned by Rosatom), one of the leading specialists in nuclear physics and nuclear energy USSR and Russia, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Igor Ostretsov was fired due to a critical interview with a local newspaper in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The scientist turned to the President and Government of the Russian Federation for protection.

As stated in Ostretsov’s appeal, published in Segodnya Gazeta, about a month ago he gave this publication an interview about the prospects for the development of nuclear energy. “Today Rosatom gave instructions to fire me. This is the second time this has happened. The first time I was fired from the All-Russian Research Institute of Nuclear Engineering was in 1990, also on the orders of Rosatom. Then I was reinstated in court twice. They fire me for the reason that I express my position on the ways of developing nuclear energy - in particular, on the complete absurdity of the Breakthrough program. IN given time A similar position on this issue is taken, for example, by the Kurchatov Institute. In addition, I learned that by decision of your administration this issue was transferred for examination to this institute. I have no doubt that the very expensive and senseless Breakthrough program will be closed, including through my efforts. I ask you to protect me from the attacks of some Rosatom leaders, especially since I am sure that [Rosatom General Director Sergei] Kiriyenko knows nothing about my next dismissal,” the scientist’s address to Putin says.

The Breakthrough program is a project that consolidates achievements in the development of high-power fast neutron reactors, closed nuclear fuel cycle technology, as well as new types of fuel with the aim of creating a nuclear energy complex that includes nuclear power plants with fast neutron reactors.

The Breakthrough project is one of the main modern world projects in nuclear energy, implemented in Russia by leading industry scientists and specialists, which provides for the creation of new generation nuclear energy technologies based on a closed nuclear fuel cycle using fast neutron reactors.

The “Breakthrough” project is being implemented within the framework of the federal target program “Nuclear energy technologies of the new generation for the period 2010 - 2015 and for the future until 2020.” Today, nine project responsibility centers employ specialists from leading scientific, design and production organizations Rosatom.

General Director of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Sergei Vladilenovich Kiriyenko:

“In today's conditions, we must introduce a new generation of competitive technologies to the market faster than planned. The goal of the Breakthrough project is not only a unique result of research or development work, but also the creation of a competitive technology with the help of which the Russian nuclear industry can not only maintain, but also strengthen its leadership in the world market in the next 30 years." .

In the next five years, at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine, it is planned to build an experimental demonstration energy complex consisting of a power unit with a BREST-OD-300 reactor with a lead coolant and a station plant closing the nuclear fuel cycle, which includes a processing module for irradiated mixed uranium-plutonium (nitride ) fuel and a fabrication/refabrication module for the manufacture of starting fuel rods from imported materials, and subsequently fuel rods from recycled irradiated nuclear fuel.

The Proryv project management system won in 2014 All-Russian competition“Project Olympus”, conducted by the Analytical Center for the Government Russian Federation, in the category “Project management systems with a total budget of more than 500 million rubles. in state corporations, development institutions, state companies.”

Scientific director of the “Breakthrough” project direction Evgeniy Olegovich Adamov:

“The Breakthrough project is now being carried out ahead of schedule compared to other world-class nuclear energy projects by about 10 years, more than half of the R&D on the project has been completed. Implementation of the project results in stages in the range of 2020-2030s. will give a start to the development of large-scale nuclear energy and create the preconditions for strengthening Russia as a leader in the global market of nuclear technologies and products.”

The multidisciplinary nature of the project, which required the involvement of a number of industry enterprises, universities and institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, determined the need to return to the practice of project management, once successfully used in solving the problems of creating nuclear weapons and missile delivery vehicles. Instead of forming new enterprises, as in the era of the first nuclear project, at the existing core enterprises of the Rosatom State Corporation, Responsibility Centers (RCs) were allocated for reactor installations, development of mixed uranium-plutonium fuel technologies, spent fuel reprocessing, radioactive waste management, creation of codes new generation. These central centers are united within the framework of a project approach under a single scientific and administrative leadership. This management method is a pilot for the industry, and this is another innovation that, if successful, will be used in the future.

Details Created 11/28/2012 15:02

Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences Gennady Khandorin -
about public hearings, gas combustion and fast reactors

After a recent report that the management of the Rosatom State Corporation and the leadership of the Tomsk region decided to place a nuclear reactor of a new type "BREST-300" at the site of the Siberian Chemical Plant, some Tomsk media reacted critically. They say that this decision was made without discussion with the Tomsk public. In connection with these speeches, I consider it necessary to make some clarifications.

Breakthrough guaranteed

The most powerful uranium conversion center in Europe will be put into operation in 2016 at Siberian Chemical Combine

On Nuclear Industry Worker's Day, many significant events took place for SKH. To begin with, the head of the State Corporation Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, personally congratulated the Seversk nuclear workers.

Nuclear scientists are calling to “Breakthrough”

At the end of November, the fifth regional forum-dialogue “Nuclear Production. Society. Safety". And although its name was general in nature, it was dedicated to a topic that has become relevant for Tomsk this year - nuclear energy (NE) of a new generation, based on fast neutron reactors. The event was attended by authoritative Rosatom specialists and representatives of government agencies different levels, rectors Tomsk universities, business leaders and members of the public.

The progress of the “Breakthrough” project was discussed at Siberian Chemical Combine

March 26, 2013 Deputy general director- Director of the Innovation Management Unit of the State Corporation Rosatom, Vyacheslav Pershukov, held a working meeting at the Siberian Chemical Plant OJSC (part of the TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom) on the implementation of the Breakthrough project.

Expert: The BREST reactor being created at Siberian Chemical Combine is safer than existing ones

The newest experimental reactor BREST-0D-300, which is planned to be built at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine (SKhK) by 2020, will be safer than any reactors currently in operation, says Andrei Nikolaev, head of the BREST project.

Rosatom plans to implement at Siberian Chemical Combine the creation of the latest fuel on which nuclear power will operate after 2020. It is planned to build an experimental demonstration energy complex as part of the BREST-300 reactor installation with an on-site nuclear fuel cycle and a complex for the production of dense uranium-plutonium (nitride) fuel for fast neutron reactors.

Tomsk experts previously expressed doubts about the safety of the project. It was noted that an experimental reactor, the safety of which has not been proven, will be placed too close to big city, liquid lead “with unknown properties” will be used as a coolant, and nitride fuel has not been fully studied.

“Nothing is absolutely safe. The five uranium-graphite reactors that we had working on site - when they were built in the 1950s, few people thought about safety. And they were very dangerous. Any deviation from the nominal parameter required effort from the operator to return the reactor to normal,” Nikolaev told RIA Novosti.

He emphasized that the new reactor will automatically shut down if any parameters deviate. The specialist emphasized that a fast neutron reactor uses fuel with a smaller reactivity margin, so acceleration using prompt neutrons is impossible. "And it doesn't happen nuclear explosion", the expert added.

Nikolaev emphasized that dense nitride fuel is more reliable than oxide fuel and is more resistant to mechanical defects and temperature conditions. Lead, unlike sodium currently used as a coolant, is passive and, from the point of view of chemical activity, is safer than sodium.

TOMSK, July 16 - RIA Novosti, Sergey Levanenkov.
RIA Novosti ria.ru/atomtec_news/20130716/949985649.html#ixzz2ZGpgARA4

“Breakthrough” in the development of nuclear energy

The creation of new generation nuclear energy technologies under the “Breakthrough” project will bring the region more than 100 billion rubles of investment by 2020, additional taxes and new energy capacity

Tomsk confirms its status as a forum city. Not long ago, the region hosted the XV interregional congress “Energy Saving - 2012” with international participation. Two weeks ago, regional governor Sergei Zhvachkin agreed that Gazprom would become the general partner of the Innovus Innovation Forum in May 2013, with the possible attendance of laureates Nobel Prize. And on November 29-30, the V regional forum-dialogue “Nuclear Production, Society, Safety - 2012” was held in Tomsk, which became a platform for discussing the prospects for the development of the nuclear industry, the creation of new generation nuclear energy technologies, and the development of dialogue with the public on nuclear energy issues. - More than 300 people took part in the regional dialogue forum: representatives of government, local government, environmental and public organizations, research and design institutes, industrial enterprises from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tomsk and other cities of Russia.

The issues that were discussed at the forum directly affected the interests of the Tomsk region: prospects for the development of nuclear production and nuclear cities; problems of ensuring nuclear and radiation safety, reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel, radioactive waste management; prospects for the creation of new generation nuclear energy technologies under the “Breakthrough” project, the development of fast neutron reactors with a closed fuel cycle and others.

At the opening of the forum, Sergei Baranovsky, deputy chairman of the public council of the state corporation Rosatom, president of the Green Cross, chairman of the Russian Environmental Congress, noted that such an event is a new format for communication between nuclear scientists, scientists, authorities, environmentalists and the population on the most topical issues development of nuclear energy, unique opportunity developing dialogue with the public.

“Rosatom values ​​the opportunity to conduct a dialogue with both supporters and opponents of nuclear production,” noted Alexander Lokshin, Deputy Director General of Rosatom for Operations Management. - Nuclear energy requires an extremely respectful attitude; here you need to measure not just seven times, but 77 times.

At the same time, Lokshin emphasized, nuclear energy needs to be developed, since hydrocarbon resources (oil and gas) will last humanity for a maximum of another 100-200 years, and nuclear energy can be used for millennia. At the same time, using hydrocarbons, we are actually burning our planet, and at a rate much faster than it is being restored. As for alternative energy sources, they will, of course, have their place, but they will not be the main ones. It turns out that there is no alternative to the development of nuclear energy. And the main task is to ensure the safe development of the peaceful atom.

In turn, Vladimir Zhidkikh, Deputy Governor of the Tomsk Region for domestic policy, said that the forum is not just a source of new knowledge, “but also a platform for finding new solutions in the field of nuclear energy, which should be supported by the Tomsk community.”

It is very important and valuable that world-class experts at the Tomsk site will talk about the current state of nuclear energy and answer questions that concern residents of the Tomsk region,” noted Vladimir Zhidkikh.

Representatives of Rosatom emphasized that nuclear energy must respond to three challenges of the time: to be absolutely safe, to involve uranium-238 in the fuel process and to solve the problem with spent nuclear fuel. All key tasks in the development of nuclear energy will be solved within the framework of the “Breakthrough” project, the main part of which will be implemented in the Tomsk region, at the Siberian Chemical Plant.

The drivers of development of the nuclear industry today are universities,” said Petr Chubik, Rector of TPU. - Universities are both a factory of scientific thought and a factory of qualified personnel. Tomsk universities are ready to accept the most Active participation in the implementation of the “Breakthrough” project.

Rosatom plans to implement at the Siberian Chemical Combine site, within the framework of the Breakthrough project, the production of experimental nitride fuel, on which nuclear power will operate after 2025. The main part of the Breakthrough project will be an experimental demonstration power complex as part of the BREST-300 reactor installation (fast reactor of natural safety) with an on-site nuclear fuel cycle.

The main purpose of the installation is the production of electrical and thermal energy. At the same time, information will be read that will make it possible in the future to create commercial nuclear reactors that are competitive in the world market. According to experts, the installation will operate in the Tomsk region for 15-20 years, producing electricity that will be distributed through existing regional networks.

Investments in the reactor itself are estimated at 25 billion rubles, in the on-site fuel cycle - 17 billion rubles. At the same time, the state corporation intends to accelerate the creation of a nuclear technology demonstration complex - so that it appears by 2020, and not before 2030, as previously planned.

Nuclear energy has enormous potential to solve the problems of sustainable development of the economy of our country, but new technologies are needed to develop the industry. The “Breakthrough” project allows us to solve this problem,” Evgeny Adamov, former Russian Minister of Atomic Energy (1998-2001), chairman of the technical committee of the “Breakthrough” project, scientific director of JSC NIKIET named after. N.A. Dollezhal. - The decision to concentrate the implementation of the project on one site (SCC) is correct; it will allow us to create technology and debug it.

Why was the Tomsk region chosen for the implementation of the “Breakthrough” project to create a new type of nuclear fuel and a new generation reactor? I would like to receive an answer to this question from an authoritative, independent expert at the federal level. Here is what Vladimir Grachev, advisor to the general director, member of the public council of Rosatom State Corporation, said about this:

This is completely obvious to me. The first reason is that enormous scientific and educational potential has been accumulated here. In Tomsk and the Tomsk region, the number of students and the number of highly qualified personnel per capita is the highest in Russia. And the number of students studying in those specialties that are necessary for the development of innovative methods of nuclear energy is the highest in the world.

Secondly, there is a large personnel potential. Experienced specialists work at SCC high level. Third, the Tomsk region has a unique combination of conditions for the implementation of the Breakthrough project. It is necessary to make not just a fast neutron reactor - it is only a mechanism, the main objective- create a closed nuclear fuel cycle. This is where the scientific and technological breakthrough will be! This will solve global problem nuclear energy - disposal of radioactive waste.

Seversk has both radio engineering and reactor experience. And it is in the Tomsk region that during the implementation of the project it will be possible to create an atmosphere of scientific and technological breakthrough. It is most important! Unfortunately, our country today is far behind many developed countries in many areas of industry. In nuclear energy we are still ahead of the rest, and we must maintain this position.

The Tomsk region is an ideal region for making a scientific and technological breakthrough in the field of nuclear energy. In the process of implementing this project, completely new discoveries and inventions may appear that will help bring the world's nuclear energy to a new level. It is necessary to create breakthrough technologies, and the Tomsk region is ready to solve this problem like no other.

What will the Tomsk region receive?

One of the most important questions at the forum was: what will Seversk and the Tomsk region get from Rosatom projects that will be implemented at the Siberian Chemical Combine site? According to Sergei Tochilin, General Director of the Siberian Chemical Combine, the volume of Rosatom's investments in the development of Seversk and the Siberian Chemical Combine until 2020 will amount to 100 billion rubles. Of these, 42 billion rubles are for the creation of the Breakthrough project, the remaining 58 billion rubles are the annual current investments of the state corporation. Thus, in 2012 alone, Rosatom invested more than 6 billion rubles in Siberian Chemical Combine and Seversk.

In turn, Alexander Lokshin said that the state corporation is now forming a new tax payment scheme - deductions will be made directly in the places of presence of enterprises. Thanks to this, Seversk will receive additional taxes from the implementation of Rosatom projects.

source aes.tomsk.ru/publication-4436.html

The nuclear reactor will open new page in the energy of the Earth

Forty-three hectares of territory, gray monolithic walls, fittings protruding abundantly into the sky, cranes and 600 workers. Three years later in this place, in a closed city Seversk, 25 kilometers from Tomsk, will start working first in the world Perpetuum Mobile with a capacity of 300 megawatts is a nuclear power plant with a closed fuel cycle and molten lead as a coolant. The enterprise is called experimental, since super technologies for it are so far calculated only on mathematical models. However, having tested them on an operating reactor, our nuclear scientists will receive a reference nuclear power plant of a new generation, breaking away from competitors from Toshiba, Areva and others for decades. A project that has self-explanatory name « Breakthrough", promises energy without danger and, most importantly, without uranium mining.

Skeptics and the peaceful atom

A few words for those who consider the peaceful atom a relic. Humanity's need for energy doubles every 20 years. The combustion of oil and coal leads to the annual formation of about half a billion tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, that is, 70 kilograms of harmful substances for every inhabitant of the earth. The use of nuclear power plants eliminates this problem. Moreover, oil reserves are limited, and The energy intensity of one ton of uranium-235 is approximately equal to the energy intensity of two million tons of gasoline.

Cost is also important. At a hydroelectric power station, a kilowatt hour of electricity costs 10-25 kopecks, but the hydro potential is developed world almost exhausted. At coal or fuel oil stations - 22-40 kopecks, but environmental problems arise. At industrial wind and solar power plants - 35-150 kopecks, a little expensive, and who can guarantee constant wind and the absence of clouds. The cost of nuclear energy is 20-50 kopecks, it is stable, creates much less environmental problems than burning oil and coal, its potential is limitless.

Project manager for the creation of BREST-OD-300 Andrey Nikolaev

Finally, the Russian peaceful atom turned out to be almost beyond competition. In 2010, when, after a 24-year cold snap, many countries again wanted to build nuclear power plants, our reactors turned out to be cheaper and no worse than Japanese, French and American prototypes. Moreover, unlike our competitors, we , all these years we have been building nuclear power plants“Rosatom had something to show the potential customer.

The management of the state corporation wisely used the resulting head start. As a result, Westinghouse Electric went bankrupt last year. Toshiba, which previously bought out Westinghouse Electric, is dying. Financial condition Areva is also not enviable. But delegations from 52 countries came to Atomexpo 2016. 20 of these countries still did not have nuclear power. Now they will appear for the first time in Egypt, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh - our Russian nuclear power plants.

Deep Hell

The main problem of nuclear energy today is fuel. There are 6.3 million tons of economically extractable uranium left on earth. Taking into account the growth in consumption, it will last approximately 50 years. The cost is about $50 per kilogram of ore today, but as less profitable deposits are involved in mining, it will rise to $130 per kilogram and higher. There are, of course, extracted reserves, and not small ones, but they will not last forever.

Uranium is difficult to mine or very hard. In the rock of uranium ore there is about 0.1-1 percent, plus or minus. The ores occur at a depth of about a kilometer. Temperatures at mining sites are above 60 degrees Celsius. The mined rock must be dissolved in acid, usually sulfuric acid, in order to separate the uranium ore from the solution. At some deposits, sulfuric acid is immediately pumped underground to later be collected along with dissolved uranium. However, there are uranium rocks that do not dissolve in sulfuric acid...

Finally, in purified uranium only 0.72 percent the required isotope is uranium-235. The same one that powers nuclear reactors. Selecting it is a separate headache. Uranium is converted into gas (uranium hexafluoride) and passed through cascades of centrifuges rotating at a speed of about two thousand revolutions per second, where the light fraction is separated from the heavy one. The dump - uranium-238, with a residual content of uranium-235 of 0.2-0.3 percent, was simply thrown away in the 50s. But then they began to store uranium fluoride in the form of solid in special containers under open air. Over 60 years, the earth has accumulated about two million tons of uranium-238 fluoride. Why is it stored? Then, uranium-238 can become fuel for fast nuclear reactors, with which nuclear scientists have had a difficult relationship until now.

In total, 11 industrial fast neutron reactors were built in the world: three in Germany, two in France, two in Russia, one each in Kazakhstan, Japan, Great Britain and the USA. One of them, the SNR-300, was never launched in Germany. Eight more were stopped. There are only two workers left. Where do you think? That's right, on Beloyarsk NPP.

On the one hand, fast neutron reactors are safer than conventional thermal ones. They do not have high pressure, there is no risk of steam-zirconium reaction, and so on. On the other hand, the intensity of neutron fields and the temperature in the working area are higher; steel that would retain its properties under both parameters is more difficult and expensive to produce. In addition, water cannot be used as a coolant in a fast reactor. What remains are mercury, sodium and lead. Mercury is eliminated due to its high corrosive activity. Lead must be managed to be maintained in a molten state - the melting point is 327 degrees. The melting point of sodium is 98 degrees, so all fast reactors have so far been made with sodium coolant. But sodium reacts too violently with water. If the circuit were damaged... As happened at the Japanese Monju reactor in 1995. In general, it turned out to be too difficult with the fast ones.

Diagram of a power unit with a Brest-300 reactor

Don't worry, it won't harden

“Don’t worry, the lead in our Brest-300 reactor will not only never solidify, but will never cool below a temperature of 350 degrees,” the project manager for the creation of BREST-OD-300 tells Lenta.ru Andrey Nikolaev. – Special circuits and systems are responsible for this. This is absolutely new project, unrelated to the lead-bismuth reactors that were installed on submarines. Everything here was developed taking into account the latest developments, technologies, and achievements. It will be world's first lead-cooled fast reactor. It’s not called “Breakthrough” for nothing. Before you is an enterprise of the future - a fourth generation nuclear power plant with closed fuel cycle.

They didn’t let me climb around the construction site - it’s classified as classified. Photography was also not allowed, so the pictures are not mine. They were made by a person who was explained in advance from which angles the object could be captured and from which it was not. But Andrei Nikolaev explained in detail why and in what order the three Proryv plants were being built and how the nuclear power plant can work without uranium.

The enterprise will consist of three factories: fuel production plant, reactor itself and fuel reprocessing plant. The fuel production plant will produce a completely new composition of fuel elements that have no analogues in the world. This is a mixed nitride uranium-plutonium fuel - SNUP. The fissile material in the new reactor will be plutonium. And uranium-238, which itself is not fissile, will be irradiated by thermal neutrons and turn into plutonium-239. That is, the Brest-300 reactor will generate heat, electricity, and in addition , prepare fuel for yourself.

Two birds with one stone

In the world today they work 449 peaceful industrial nuclear reactors and 60 more are under construction. During the operation of these reactors, past and future, a routine problem arises - spent fuel assemblies. First, they are placed in special baths, where they “cool down” for several years. Then, the “cooled” fuel elements are placed in “dry” storage facilities, where they accumulate in large quantities. The capacity capable of processing used assemblies is several times less than necessary. Why? Because it is very difficult and expensive.

The Proryv project will build its own fuel processing plant. As you may already guess, This plant will not only destroy burnt fuel, but also produce raw materials for new assemblies.. Old fuel rods will be dissolved in acid, possibly sulfuric, then at the plant, using complex chemical technologies, the solution will be separated element by element. What is not needed is conditioned and buried, what is needed is used. In addition to raw materials for new fuel, the enterprise will extract from old assemblies the rarest isotopes of heavy elements, which are in demand in medicine, science and industry.

By the way, the reactor power of 300 megawatts was not chosen by chance. At this power, it will produce the same amount of plutonium as it consumes. The same reactor with higher power will produce more fuel than it will consume. So once loaded, the Brest reactor will work like an ordinary Perpetuum Mobile. Only a small replenishment of the enterprise with depleted uranium will be required. Well, uranium-238, as I already mentioned, has been accumulated by the nuclear industry in such quantities that will last forever.

Model of the future nuclear power plant

Large saucepan

“So you can imagine the reactor,” continues Andrei Nikolaev. – This is a pan with a height of 17 meters and a diameter of 26 meters. Fuel assemblies will be lowered into it. A heat exchanger - molten lead - will circulate through it. All equipment from and to only Russian production. This will be a completely safe reactor with a reactivity margin of less than one. That is, in accordance with the laws of physics, it simply does not have enough reactivity to accelerate. Large-scale accidents are not possible on it. There will never be a need to evacuate the population. Any failure, if it occurs, will not extend beyond the boundaries of the enterprise building. There will be no emissions into the atmosphere as a result of a hypothetical accident.

Automatic coolant purification will be introduced in the Brest-300 reactor. The coolant of the new reactor, that is, lead, will never require replacement. This eliminates another problematic waste of traditional nuclear energy – liquid radioactive waste.

Problems are solved along the way

The authors of the Brest-300 project are NIKIET named after Dollezhal. The money is allocated on time, construction is proceeding at the planned pace, and the fuel fabrication plant will begin operating first. The reactor start-up is scheduled for 2024. Then the fuel processing module will be completed. In parallel with construction, R&D work continues. Based on the results of this work, changes are periodically made to the construction, so the final final time point has not been announced.

The Brest project has detractors in academic circles. This is understandable; the project won a competition in which several other renowned institutes participated. Critics call the technologies used in Brest unfinished. In particular, they question the use of molten lead as a coolant, and so on and so forth. We will not get into details, they are too complex and ambiguous. On the other hand, why should we not trust our nuclear scientists? All the projects that the USSR, and after it Russia, did in the nuclear industry turned out to be one step ahead of their Western and Eastern counterparts.

And even in the field of ballet... The nuclear reactor under construction near Tomsk will open a new page in the energy sector of the Earth

Forty-three hectares of territory, gray monolithic walls, fittings protruding abundantly into the sky, cranes and 600 workers. Three years later, at this site, in the closed city of Seversk, 25 kilometers from Tomsk, the world's first Perpetuum Mobile with a capacity of 300 megawatts will begin operating - a nuclear power plant with a closed fuel cycle and molten lead as a coolant. The enterprise is called experimental, since super technologies for it are so far calculated only on mathematical models. However, having tested them on an operating reactor, our nuclear scientists will receive a reference nuclear power plant of a new generation, breaking away from competitors from Toshiba, Areva and others for decades. The project, which has the self-explanatory name “Breakthrough,” promises energy without danger and, most importantly, without uranium mining.

Skeptics and the peaceful atom

A few words for those who consider the peaceful atom a relic. Humanity's need for energy doubles every 20 years. The combustion of oil and coal leads to the annual formation of about half a billion tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, that is, 70 kilograms of harmful substances for every inhabitant of the earth. The use of nuclear power plants eliminates this problem. Moreover, oil reserves are limited, and the energy intensity of one ton of uranium-235 is approximately equal to the energy intensity of two million tons of gasoline.

Cost is also important. At a hydroelectric power station, a kilowatt-hour of electricity costs 10-25 kopecks, but the hydro potential in the developed world is almost exhausted. At coal or fuel oil stations - 22-40 kopecks, but environmental problems arise. At industrial wind and solar power plants - 35-150 kopecks, a little expensive, and who can guarantee constant wind and the absence of clouds. The cost of nuclear energy is 20-50 kopecks, it is stable, creates far fewer environmental problems than burning oil and coal, its potential is limitless.

Finally, the Russian peaceful atom turned out to be almost beyond competition. In 2010, when, after a 24-year cold snap, many countries again wanted to build nuclear power plants, our reactors turned out to be cheaper and no worse than Japanese, French and American prototypes. Moreover, unlike our competitors, we have been building nuclear power plants all these years - Rosatom had something to show to a potential customer.

The management of the state corporation wisely used the resulting head start. As a result, Westinghouse Electric went bankrupt last year. Toshiba, which previously bought out Westinghouse Electric, is dying. Areva's financial condition is also not enviable. But delegations from 52 countries came to Atomexpo 2016. 20 of these countries still did not have nuclear power. Now they will appear for the first time in Egypt, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh - our Russian nuclear power plants.

Deep Hell

The main problem of nuclear energy today is fuel. There are 6.3 million tons of economically extractable uranium left on earth. Taking into account the growth in consumption, it will last approximately 50 years. The cost is about $50 per kilogram of ore today, but as less profitable deposits are involved in mining, it will rise to $130 per kilogram and higher. There are, of course, extracted reserves, and not small ones, but they will not last forever.

Uranium is hard or very hard to mine. There is about 0.1-1 percent of uranium ore in a rock, give or take. The ores occur at a depth of about a kilometer. Temperatures at mining sites are above 60 degrees Celsius. The mined rock must be dissolved in acid, usually sulfuric acid, in order to separate the uranium ore from the solution. At some deposits, sulfuric acid is immediately pumped underground to later be collected along with dissolved uranium. However, there are uranium rocks that do not dissolve in sulfuric acid...

Finally, purified uranium contains only 0.72 percent of the required isotope, uranium-235. The same one that powers nuclear reactors. Selecting it is a separate headache. Uranium is converted into gas (uranium hexafluoride) and passed through cascades of centrifuges rotating at a speed of about two thousand revolutions per second, where the light fraction is separated from the heavy one. The dump - uranium-238, with a residual content of uranium-235 of 0.2-0.3 percent, was simply thrown away in the 50s. But then they began to store uranium fluoride in the form of solid in special containers in the open air. Over 60 years, about two million tons of uranium-238 fluoride have accumulated on earth. Why is it stored? Then, uranium-238 can become fuel for fast nuclear reactors, with which nuclear scientists have had a difficult relationship until now.

In total, 11 industrial fast neutron reactors were built in the world: three in Germany, two in France, two in Russia, one each in Kazakhstan, Japan, Great Britain and the USA. One of them, the SNR-300, was never launched in Germany. Eight more were stopped. There are only two workers left. Where do you think? That's right, at the Beloyarsk NPP.

On the one hand, fast neutron reactors are safer than conventional thermal ones. They do not have high pressure, there is no risk of steam-zirconium reaction, and so on. On the other hand, the intensity of neutron fields and the temperature in the working area are higher; steel that would retain its properties under both parameters is more difficult and more expensive to produce. In addition, water cannot be used as a coolant in a fast reactor. What remains are mercury, sodium and lead. Mercury is eliminated due to its high corrosive activity. Lead must be managed to be maintained in a molten state - the melting point is 327 degrees. The melting point of sodium is 98 degrees, so all fast reactors have so far been made with sodium coolant. But sodium reacts too violently with water. If the circuit were damaged... As happened at the Japanese Monju reactor in 1995. In general, it turned out to be too difficult with the fast ones.

Diagram of a power unit with a Brest-300 reactor Image: proryv2020.ru

Don't worry, it won't harden

Don’t worry, the lead in our Brest-300 reactor will not only never solidify, but will never cool below a temperature of 350 degrees,” Andrey Nikolaev, head of the BREST-OD-300 project, tells Lenta.ru. - Special circuits and systems are responsible for this. This is a completely new project, unrelated to the lead-bismuth reactors that were installed on submarines. Everything here was developed taking into account the latest developments, technologies, and achievements. This will be the world's first lead-cooled fast reactor. It’s not called “Breakthrough” for nothing. Before you is an enterprise of the future - a fourth-generation nuclear power plant with a closed fuel cycle.

They didn’t let me climb around the construction site - it’s classified as classified. Photography was also not allowed, so the pictures are not mine. They were made by a person who was explained in advance from which angles the object could be captured and from which it was not. But Andrei Nikolaev explained in detail why and in what order the three Proryv plants are being built and how a nuclear power plant can operate without uranium.

The enterprise will consist of three plants: a fuel production plant, the reactor itself and a fuel reprocessing plant. The fuel production plant will produce a completely new composition of fuel elements that have no analogues in the world. This is a mixed nitride uranium-plutonium fuel - SNUP. The fissile material in the new reactor will be plutonium. And uranium-238, which itself is not fissile, will be irradiated by thermal neutrons and turn into plutonium-239. That is, the Brest-300 reactor will generate heat, electricity, and in addition, prepare fuel for itself.

Two birds with one stone

There are 449 peaceful industrial nuclear reactors operating in the world today and 60 more are under construction. During the operation of these reactors, past and future, a routine problem arises - spent fuel assemblies. First, they are placed in special baths, where they “cool down” for several years. Then, the “cooled” fuel elements are stored in “dry” storage facilities, where they accumulate in large quantities. The capacity capable of processing used assemblies is several times less than necessary. Why? Because it is very difficult and expensive.

The Proryv project will build its own fuel processing plant. As you already guessed, this plant will not only destroy burnt fuel, but will produce raw materials for new assemblies. Old fuel rods will be dissolved in acid, possibly sulfuric, then at the plant, using complex chemical technologies, the solution will be separated element by element. What is not needed is conditioned and buried, what is needed is used. In addition to raw materials for new fuel, the enterprise will extract from old assemblies the rarest isotopes of heavy elements, which are in demand in medicine, science and industry.

By the way, the reactor power of 300 megawatts was not chosen by chance. At this power, it will produce the same amount of plutonium as it consumes. The same reactor with higher power will produce more fuel than it will consume. So once loaded, the Brest reactor will work like an ordinary Perpetuum Mobile. Only a small replenishment of the enterprise with depleted uranium will be required. Well, uranium-238, as I already mentioned, has been accumulated by the nuclear industry in such quantities that it will last forever.

Layout of the future nuclear power plant Image: proryv2020.ru ½

Large saucepan

So that you can imagine the reactor,” continues Andrei Nikolaev. - This is a pan with a height of 17 meters and a diameter of 26 meters. Fuel assemblies will be lowered into it. A heat exchanger - molten lead - will circulate through it. All equipment from and to only Russian production. This will be a completely safe reactor with a reactivity margin of less than one. That is, in accordance with the laws of physics, it simply does not have enough reactivity to accelerate. Large-scale accidents are not possible on it. There will never be a need to evacuate the population. Any failure, if it occurs, will not extend beyond the boundaries of the enterprise building. There will be no emissions into the atmosphere as a result of a hypothetical accident.

Automatic coolant purification will be introduced in the Brest-300 reactor. The coolant of the new reactor, that is, lead, will never require replacement. This eliminates another problematic waste of traditional nuclear energy—liquid waste.

Problems are solved along the way

The authors of the Brest-300 project are NIKIET named after Dollezhal. The money is allocated on time, construction is proceeding at the planned pace, and the fuel fabrication plant will begin operating first. The start-up of the reactor is scheduled for 2024. Then the fuel processing module will be completed. In parallel with construction, R&D work continues. Based on the results of this work, changes are periodically made to the construction, so the final final time point has not been announced.

The Brest project has detractors in academic circles. This is understandable; the project won a competition in which several other renowned institutes participated. Critics call the technologies used in Brest unfinished. In particular, they question the use of molten lead as a coolant, and so on and so forth. We will not get into details, they are too complex and ambiguous. On the other hand, why should we not trust our nuclear scientists? All the projects that the USSR, and after it Russia, did in the nuclear industry turned out to be one step ahead of their Western and Eastern counterparts. So what reason do we have to believe that things will be different this time? It seems to me that we should just be happy for Rosatom and TVEL and at the same time for ourselves, because this is our corporation.